AUSTIN, Texas — After a mass shooting that killed two people and injured 14 others early Sunday morning, Texas political leaders are split along party lines on how to move forward.
Hours after the gunman opened fire on a crowd at Buford’s on West 6th Street in downtown Austin, the tension became clear during an exchange between Gov. Greg Abbott and Democratic State Rep. and U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico.
“I frankly am tired of the ‘thoughts and prayers’ rhetoric from our leaders here in Texas and in our nation’s capital,” a campaign account for Talarico wrote on X. “I believe in the power of prayer. I believe prayer changes lives. I believe prayer changes the world. But there is something profoundly cynical about asking God to solve a problem that we’re not willing to solve ourselves.”
Attached to the post was a video of a former media appearance by Talarico, in which he called for gun regulation.
The post caught the attention of the governor, who responded to the message.
“The problem here, James, is not the gun show loophole. It’s the unvetted immigrant loophole,” Abbott wrote. “Allowing unvetted immigrants who are hostile to America, who are loyal to our adversaries like Iran, must end.”
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In the day since, Republican lawmakers have emphasized the need for stricter immigration policy.
The suspected gunman, Ndiaga Diagne, was originally from Senegal. According to the Department of Homeland Security, he entered the country on a visa in 2000 before becoming a naturalized citizen in 2013.
A group of nearly 70 Texas House Republicans, led by State Rep. Jared Patterson of North Texas, signed onto a letter to Congressional leadership on Monday demanding the full funding of DHS, freezing H-1B visa issuances, pausing all immigration and identifying current threats within the country.
“The time for deliberation has passed. The American people— and the people of Texas—demand immigration policies that place the safety and welfare of Americans first,” the letter reads.
Meanwhile, many Democrats have turned their focus to gun violence and safety.
“Gun violence continues to steal the lives of far too many Texans. Our hearts are with the victims of today’s shooting and their families. We will never stop fighting for them,” Austin-area House Democrats wrote in a joint statement on Sunday.
Democratic State Rep. John Bucy condemned the blame placed on immigration by some Republicans. He suggested, however, that there is work to be done during the next legislative session.
“We have to look at mental health, we have to look at guns, and we have to look at how to make our communities safer,” he said when asked if there was room for unity in the aftermath of the shooting. “But it’s not going to be one thing, and we can’t let one side or the other control that. We have to be willing to meet in the middle and work across the aisle to find true solutions to these problems in our community.”
According to the Austin Police Department, Diagne legally owned the weapons used in Sunday’s shooting.
The FBI revealed on Sunday that it is looking into a potential “nexus to terrorism” based on some items found in the suspect’s car.