UVALDE, Texas — Issac and Denise Long paid their respects after losing a friend, Irma Garcia, a 4th-grade teacher at Robb Elementary.
"She would have done anything for them," Denise Long said.
"There is no need for automatic weapons."
Veteran Isaac Long said he believes it's time for a change and that it starts with voting Gov. Greg Abbott out of office.
"There has to be a different Governor, there just has to be," he said.
Education Week has been tracking school shootings since 2018.
Since the start, there have been 119 school shootings.
In a press conference on Wednesday in Uvalde, a Democratic candidate confronted Abbott.
"This is on you," Beto O'Rourke yelled to the Governor as he was being escorted out.
The Texas Governor who's been part of losing gun laws in Texas compared school shootings to Chicago gun violence.
"I hate to say this, but there are more people shot every weekend in Chicago than there are in schools in Texas. And we need to realize that people who think that, well maybe if we just implement tougher gun laws, its gonna solve it," Abbott said. "Chicago and L.A. and New York disprove that thesis. And so, if you're looking for a real solution, Chicago teaches that what you're talking about is not a real solution.
Our job is to come up with real solutions that we can implement."
Shame on you, @GovAbbott .
— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) May 25, 2022
Majority of Guns Used in Chicago Crimes Come From Outside Illinois: Report https://t.co/24aspQ9aKM
In an ATF briefing obtained by a Texas lawmaker, the grandmother of the shooter, Salvador Ramos, "had wages with the school" and ended in 2020.
The briefing also said the suspect dropped a backpack full of ammunition, "There are at least what appears to be 30-round magazines."
While the debate on gun control laws heats up once again, The Longs hope for a change.
"Too many kids are dying."
