Meanwhile. . .

The state of Texas took over Houston’s public school district on March 15. Research on state takeovers of school districts suggests that the Houston takeover, like others, is influenced by racism and political power. Negative consequences often include the removal of locally elected school boards. They also involve decreases in teachers and staff and the loss of local control of schools

 Just three months into 2023, 59 children under the age of 11 have been killed and another 131 have been injured by gun violence, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. The nonprofit defines gun violence as including mass shootings as well as  accidental shootings, murders, armed robberies and familicide. The number of youth killed or injured by gun violence has been increasing over the last few years. In 2022, about 6,000 children and teens were killed or injured by guns. That’s an increase of nearly 8 percent from 2021 — and 61 percent from 2016.

From 1966 to 2019, 77% of mass shooters purchased at least one of the weapons used in the shootings legally, per data compiled by the National Institute of Justice, a research wing of the Justice Department.