... governor of Texas. Abbott is a Republican. His 2014 Dem opponent, state senatrix Wendy Davis, thought the absolute, most pressing, most important issue facing the state was abortion. Abbott beat the pantyhose off her. His 2018 opponent, Lupe Valdez didn't dwell too heavily on abortion, but she lost too...on Thursday issued eight executive orders aimed at preventing mass shootings after two massacres last month left the Lone Star State shaken.
"Mental instability, racial hatred, holy warrior ideology, a desire to sow domestic terror, and other factors have contributed to these horrific mass shootings in varying degrees," the executive orders said. They also pointed out that police had been alerted to both shooters before they carried out their attacks.
Abbott ordered the state’s Department of Public Safety and Commission on Law Enforcement to standardize procedures for determining whether information should be reported to the Texas Suspicious Activity Reporting Network, to train law enforcement in those procedures, and to raise public awareness of them.
He also ordered the Department of Public Safety to work with local law enforcement, mental-health professionals, and school districts to come up with "multidisciplinary threat assessment teams" and beef up staff at government intelligence-gathering centers, and increased pressure on counties to promptly report criminal convictions to the Department.