If for some reason you haven’t heard, there was a(nother) mass shooting in Texas this weekend. This time at an outlet mall in Allen, which is about 25 miles northeast of Dallas, and 15 miles northwest of my front door. The story is familiar: shooter opens fire with an assault style firearm, lots of people die, many more are injured, and the people in power click their tongues, shake their heads, and ask for thoughts and prayers.

How many more? How many innocent people have to die before somebody does something? Eight people, including a 3-year-old and his parents, a 20-year-old security guard, a 27-year-old engineer, and two sisters – a 2^nd grader and a 4^th grader from the very town I live in that attended the same school I taught 4^th grade in just a few years ago. The sisters’ mother is one of the many that were injured and in critical condition. If she survives, she’ll wake up to a world without her daughters. And the best we can do is thoughts and prayers.

I get that gun control is a hot button issue. One extreme is worried that gun control laws will result in an imposition of their rights while the other extreme wants just that. Meanwhile, somewhere in the middle are the majority of us that just want some commonsense regulation. If a person feels like their family is safer with a handgun in the house, goes through the proper channels and passes the proper checks, fine. I understand there are people who like to go out and hunt, and that requires a gun as well. Assuming they also go through the proper checks and channels to purchase their rifle, fine. But there is no scenario where anyone needs a military grade weapon that is known by its ability to fire off multiple rounds in seconds.

Instead of considering steps like assault weapon bans, extensive background checks, and waiting periods, the Texas governor, Greg Abbott has decided that the real problem here is a lack of mental health resources. I’d like to take a step back here and say that there is no question that there is a huge mental health crisis and that mental health resources are grossly underfunded. On that, we can agree. I’m all for increasing access to mental health services, I just don’t see how that is going to address this particular problem. Is Governor Abbott suggesting that people with mental health challenges shouldn’t be allowed to purchase guns? While that sounds a lot like maybe a very simplified background check (which he’s against, remember?), it’s a flawed one. Not all mass shooters face mental health challenges, so how do we deny access to firearms only to the ones whose only diagnoses are racism and hate? While some of these suspects do face mental health challenges, there are exponentially many more people with mental health challenges that would never commit a mass shooting. Maybe instead of having to guess, we expand access to mental health care for all, and access to assault rifles to none.

If I was a betting person though, I’d put my money on Governor Abbott’s blame shift having more to do with funding from gun rights groups like the NRA than actual concern for mental health care. The current Congress of Texas lawmakers has taken more money from gun rights groups than any other state. I can see how it might be hard to go against the groups who fund such a large part of your campaign, but when so many innocent people are dying because of it, it feels like it might be time to reevaluate where the money is coming from. If you can’t win a campaign without the NRA, maybe your platform isn’t directed at serving people like you claim it is.

Look, I understand this is a complicated issue; that the right to bear arms is protected under the Constitution and all that, but I don’t think owning military grade assault weapons with little to no regulation is quite what the founding fathers had in mind. I think we might be convoluting the language of a 400-year-old document and taking things a little out of context. Or maybe, like a child who has been reckless and irresponsible with their privileges, we need a time out to reflect.

Regardless of how you feel about guns, keep in mind that eight people went to a mall on a Saturday afternoon, and will never go home. They’ll never get to play with that new toy or show their new shoes off to their friends. Many more injured victims might make it home, but they’re now traumatized and scarred and will likely never feel safe again. They are parents, children, siblings, and friends. Their lives mattered, and they deserve more than our thoughts and prayers.