Newsom calls out Texas Gov. Abbott after shooting: 'Why we need federal gun safety laws'

Julia Johnson

May 07, 04:50 PM May 07, 04:50 PM

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) called out Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) on Sunday after the Texas governor brought up California gun death statistics in a WHD News appearance following a fatal mass shooting in the lone star state.

"I think that the state in which the largest number of victims occurred this year is in California, where they have very tough gun laws," Abbott told WHD News Sunday host Shannon Bream.

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Newsom, who revealed last week that he watches WHD News every morning, did not take kindly to Abbott's invoking of California in the wake of the tragedy in Allen, Texas.

"Texas’ gun death rate is 73% higher than CA’s," the California governor claimed in a tweet on Sunday.

On Saturday, a gunman opened fire at a Dallas, Texas area mall, killing eight people and injuring at least seven others. The shooter, identified as Mauricio Garcia, was killed by a police officer.

“Our hearts are with the people of Allen, Texas, tonight during this unspeakable tragedy,” Abbott said in a statement that night. “I have been in contact with Mayor Fulk and DPS Director McCraw as well as other state and local leaders and offered the full support of the State of Texas to local officials to ensure all needed assistance and resources are swiftly deployed, including DPS officers, Texas Rangers, and investigative resources.”

In his Sunday morning WHD News appearance, Abbott said, "At the state level, listen, this is something that we have been grappling with over the past year, and there are some potential easy solutions, such as passing laws that were working on right now to get guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals and to increase penalties for criminals who possess guns."

He added that "we need to recognize a reality. What we've seen across the united states over the past year or two — and that is an increased number of shootings in both red states and blue states."

"We've seen an increased number of shootings in states with easy gun laws as well as states with very strict gun laws," Abbott told Bream.

"Here is a clip in which @GregAbbott_TX: 1) Conveniently leaves out the fact that Texas’ gun death rate is 73% higher than CA’s. 2) Accidentally points to exactly why we need federal gun safety laws," Newsom Tweeted afterward.

It is unclear where Newsom's statistic comes from. When using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from 2021 regarding firearm death rates by state, Texas's rate is about 54% higher than that of California — not 73%.

The data is mixed on gun deaths by state in 2023. However, assessments are in agreement that both Texas and California have the top two highest amounts of total gun deaths so far this year.

The two are also the largest states by population in America. In 2022, California was home to around 39 million people, while Texas boasted around 30 million residents.

Abbott further said that "one thing that we can observe very easily and that is there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of anger and violence that's taking place in America. And what Texas is doing in a big-time way, we are working to address that anger and violence by going to its root cause which is addressing the mental health problems behind it."

He acknowledged that "Texas had been lagging in addressing mental health for years, and that's why over the past three sessions, we've added almost $25 billion to address mental health. We're in the waning days of a session right now where We will be adding even more funding, about $3 billion, to address mental health needs in the state of Texas, especially in rural Texas and especially for children in schools."

It is unclear what Abbott is including in his assessment of Texas adding $25 billion to address mental health.

The Washington Examiner reached out to the governor's office but did not receive a response.

In a tweet prior to the segment, Newsom said, "This is your reminder that @GregAbbott_TX cut $211 million in mental health funding."

Newsom is likely referring to a move by Abbott's administration in April 2022, when he authorized the transfer of General Revenue funds to programs within the Office of the Governor Strategy A.1.1., Disaster Funds.

"These transfers are meant to support the deployment of the National Guard with $465.3 million and to support border operations in other state agencies with $30 million," the governor wrote in a letter at the time.

About $211 million of the transferred funds came at the expense of the Texas Department of Health and Human Services.

Notably, in June 2022, in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, an additional $105.5 million was announced by the Texas government for school safety and mental health initiatives.

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This included $5.8 million for the Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT), $4.7 million for the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to increase Multisystemic Therapy (MST), $950,000 for the HHSC to expand Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) teams, and "up to $5 million to be used by the Hill Country Mental Health & Developmental Disabilities (MHDD) Center to assist in evaluating mental health services in the Uvalde community and preparing a needs assessment for the legislature."

However, it's still unclear where Abbott's $25 billion figure comes from.

SEE IT: Texas Gov. Abbott joins list of GOP governors banning TikTok on state devices

Julia Johnson

December 07, 04:55 PM December 07, 04:55 PM

Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) followed the lead Wednesday of Republican governors across the country who are banning the social media app TikTok.

"Every state agency in Texas shall ban its officers and employees from downloading or using TikTok on any of its government-issued devices," Abbott wrote in a letter to state agency heads. The ban is effective immediately.

"This TikTok ban extends to all state-issued cell phones, laptops, tablets, desktop computers, and other devices capable of internet connectivity, and it must be strictly enforced by your agency’s IT department," he added.

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"While TikTok has claimed that it stores U.S. data within the U.S., the company admitted in a letter to Congress that China-based employees can have access to that U.S. data," he noted. "Further, under China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law, all businesses are required to assist China in intelligence work, including data sharing, and TikTok’s algorithm has already censored topics politically sensitive to the Chinese Communist Party, including the Tiananmen Square protests."

The governor also signaled that he stands ready to sign and implement legislation that cements this directive into law.

Further, Abbott asked the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Department of Information Resources to design a plan for state agencies regarding the use of TikTok on personal devices.

Per the governor, the plan must address the use of the app on personal devices that have remote access to government accounts, the identification of sensitive locations, meetings, and agency personnel that could be exposed by TikTok-enabled personal devices, network-based restrictions that could prevent TikTok use on personal devices while on agency property, and whether other apps, services, hardware, or software should be considered for inclusion in the plan.

Last week, Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) set off a domino effect when she issued an executive order banning TikTok on state-owned or leased devices. Following her lead, Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC) issued a directive Monday asking his state's Department of Administration to remove the application from state-owned devices permanently.

On Tuesday, outgoing Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD) sent out a similar directive, ordering the removal of TikTok from state-owned or managed technology assets.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams says Abbott broke promise to coordinate on migrants

Jack Birle

September 18, 12:22 PM September 18, 12:22 PM

New York City Mayor Eric Adams says Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has failed to stay up to his vow to coordinate with him on migrants currently being despatched to his town.

Adams mentioned his calls for coordination had been ignored in spite of effectively producing call with the Texas governor's business office and securing a guarantee to get the job done jointly.

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"We've reached out and said that, let's coordinate and work jointly so we can deal with this disaster with each other. They refused to do so," Adams instructed Jonathan Karl on ABC's This Week Sunday.

When Karl pressed Adams on no matter if he experienced been capable to discuss with Abbott's business office on the cell phone, the mayor said he experienced but that no coordination resulted from the conversation.

"They took the call and stated that they would coordinate — I’m talking about Gov. Abbott. They would coordinate, and they did not coordinate at all, for the reason that I don’t believe it was politically expedient for them to coordinate. It was far more to do this, basically, political gamesmanship that you're seeing now," Adams said.

Abbott has earlier invited Adams to the southern border to exhibit him the predicament relating to migrants and border crossings. Adams reportedly sent some of his officers to the border previously this thirty day period but did not travel himself.

Abbott has been transporting migrants to various cities that pleasure by themselves as "sanctuary cities," which includes Washington, D.C., Chicago, and New York Town. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has not too long ago joined Abbott's pattern and sent two planes of migrants to Martha's Winery, Massachusetts.

Uvalde school board urges Texas governor to transfer to elevate age for semi-computerized rifle purchases

Abigail Adcox

July 25, 11:02 PM July 25, 11:02 PM

The Uvalde, Texas, university board passed a resolution urging Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to contact for a specific legislative session to pass laws to elevate the authorized age to buy semi-computerized rifles from 18 to 21 a long time previous.

Uvalde Consolidated Independent University District trustees voted unanimously to approve the evaluate on Monday, much more than two months following an 18-calendar year-previous gunman entered Uvalde Elementary University and killed 19 students and two lecturers with an AR-type rifle.

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Uvalde County commissioners have also referred to as for Abbott to phone for such a unique session, in accordance to the Texas Tribune.

In the aftermath of the university taking pictures, Abbott has centered on boosting mental wellness resources and upping basic safety strategies in the university process. In June, he asked the Texas legislature to kind distinctive committees to make recommendations.

Law enforcement and the college district have confronted major backlash for having so extensive to end the shooter, who was inside the lecture rooms exactly where he unleashed his attack for far more than an hour right before law enforcement stormed in and killed him, as shown in a not long ago unveiled video.

An investigative report by a Texas Dwelling committee identified "systemic failures and egregious bad conclusion making" that extended beyond law enforcement, which include a family members who did not understand and act on warning signs and a college district that did not adhere to its security prepare.