OPINION
‘Completely Broken’: 5 Major Weekend Shootings Leave Many Furious That Republicans Continue to Block Gun Reform

A high school football team captain signed to play college ball, and a high school basketball player are two of the three people who were shot and killed at a shooting in Austin, Texas Sunday. Austin was one of five major shootings this weekend. Columbus, Ohio, LaPlace and Shreveport, Louisiana, and Kenosha, Wisconsin had mass shootings over the weekend, following a horrific mass shooting at a FedEx warehouse in Indianapolis, Indiana that left eight dead and seven wounded.
In Austin the suspect is “a former Travis County Sheriff’s Office detective who was charged with sexual assault of a child,” CNN reports.
Five mourners, including a 12-year old child, at a Columbus, Ohio vigil commemorating the murder of a man one year earlier were shot. One woman driving by the scene was shot in the head. She died.
Also Sunday, a Kenosha, Wisconsin shooter killed three people and injured three others. A “person of interest” has been arrested and will be charged with one count of first degree intentional homicide.
Saturday night in LaPlace, Louisiana six people, all children, were shot at a 12-year old’s birthday party. None of the injuries were fatal. The suspected shooter was also a child. And in Shreveport, Louisiana, late Sunday five people were shot and hospitalized.
The Gun Violence Archive doesn’t even count the Austin, Texas killings as a “mass shooting” because it only includes events where at least four people were shot. Nor does it list the Ft. Worth, Texas 3-year old who shot and killed herself Sunday afternoon at a local park, or last weekend’s fatal shooting of an 11-year old boy by a 9-year old boy at a Dallas Walmart parking lot.
This weekend’s five major shootings are a slice of all the gun violence over the weekend. Every day on average there are 316 people shot, including 106 who are shot and killed.
Sunday was the 108th day of the year. The Gun Violence Archive lists 152 mass shootings through Sunday.
On social media Americans are reeling in anger over the explosion of gun violence just as some feel the coronavirus pandemic is slowly approaching some semblance of starting to be controlled as more and more people are getting vaccinated. (Sunday saw another 43,181 new cases, a dramatic drop from Friday’s 81,600 and Saturday’s 63,627.)
Others point to the Texas House this week passing legislation that would end the requirement for gun licenses, allowing unlicensed open or concealed carry to be legal.
Not even a pretense that the government is going to do anything to prevent mass shootings
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) April 18, 2021
ah yes. vaccinating and reopening so we can return to mass shootings.
— Jenny Yang (@jennyyangtv) April 19, 2021
I’m asking Congress if a bill can be passed to hold Republicans accountable for mass shootings since they are the ones who prevent Congress from making gun safety laws in the first place.@RepSwalwell, @tedlieu, @AOC @IlhanMN @amyklobuchar @SenSanders @SenGillibrand @ewarren
— David Weissman (@davidmweissman) April 18, 2021
Good lord Congress, try something! Universal background checks, assault weapons ban, child access prevention. Anything! Doing nothing is a failure of leadership and democracy. https://t.co/VrTBezK3r6
— john mclaughlin (@jmclaughlinSAIS) April 17, 2021
Any Member of Congress like Greene who denies the reality of Sandy Hook should be immediately expelled
And let me be very clear:
We have mass shootings every godforsaken day because of one party and one party alone: the Republicans
— Lindy Li (@lindyli) April 18, 2021
50 mass shootings in 1 month… as a responsible gun owner and someone who grew up shooting guns, Congress, please do something. My 2nd amendment rights are not threatened by red-flag laws, extended background checks, or bans on assault rifles. Do something. Save lives. Please.
— Alix✨ (@Alix_Pitner) April 18, 2021
So America is besieged by shootings and republicans are trying to make it easier to get a gun?
— Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@MollyJongFast) April 16, 2021
This is the most insane streak of mass shootings I can ever remember. Our country is completely broken. Politicians (mostly Republicans) and gun nuts refuse to do anything https://t.co/upUdyr7RBC
— Christian (@seng225) April 18, 2021
Reports of at least 4 shootings in texas on the news tonight. One toddler shot and killed in north texas, college students shooting each other, another one I’ve forgotten, and then the shooting in Austin. And republicans want to make it easier for people to do this. 😞🪦
— Kay Walker (@kwalkc) April 19, 2021
How much longer must we be inundated w/news of more mass shootings than any of us can keep up with—before Republicans acknowledge the reality that America is in the midst of an epidemic of gun violence that’s absolutely out of control?
Will enough ever be enough? #EndGunViolence
— Buffy Wicks (@BuffyWicks) April 18, 2021
Any Member of Congress like Greene who denies the reality of Sandy Hook should be immediately expelled
And let me be very clear:
We have mass shootings every godforsaken day because of one party and one party alone: the Republicans
— Lindy Li (@lindyli) April 18, 2021
After a day with three mass shootings, @EricBoehlert asks why aren’t we talking about the real obstacle to gun safety — Republicans https://t.co/aWJUE5VTjB
— Will Bunch Sign Up For My Newsletter (@Will_Bunch) April 19, 2021
Imagine if Republicans took mass shootings as seriously as infinite access to If I Ran the Zoo.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) April 16, 2021
The U.S. has experienced at least 45 mass shootings in one month.
This is an American problem.
90% of Americans SUPPORT gun safety reform.
We passed legislation last month and yet Republicans in the Senate refuse to support it. They are voting AGAINST their own constituents. pic.twitter.com/1h8CnP5md3
— Congresswoman Marie Newman (@RepMarieNewman) April 16, 2021
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