Dario Lopez-Mills/AP
- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott this week instructed schools to put in place new safety measures.
- This included weekly checks on doors to "verify they are secure during school hours."
- Abbott's instructions on Thursday made no mention of gun control measures.
Following the deadly mass shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered a weekly inspection of schools in the state.
Abbott on Thursday penned a letter to Mike Morath, the commissioner of the Texas Education Agency. In it, Abbott highlighted the need to "redouble" efforts to keep schools safe, citing "building standards for school district facilities."
Abbott asked Morath to implement a plan for school districts to comply with some "heightened safety measures." These included ensuring that all school districts "conduct weekly inspections of exterior doors to verify they are secure during school hours."
The letter made no mention of gun control measures.
The governor's request comes in the same week that officials from the Texas Department of Public Safety wrongly blamed a Robb Elementary teacher for leaving a back door at the school open before the shooting. They claimed that this allowed the gunman to enter the building.
The officials later reversed their claim, saying the door did not lock.
In the days after the shooting, it also came to light that the gunman was able to barricade himself in a classroom despite the district having a security plan in place involving teachers keeping classroom doors closed and locked at all times.
Abbott has also called on the Texas state legislature to form special committees to "reassess the twin issues of school safety and mass violence," The Houston Chronicle reported. Following two mass shootings in 2019, Abbott weakened Texas' gun laws to make them among the least restrictive in the US.
In a speech to the NRA just days after the shooting, the Texas governor also wrote off the idea of having more gun control restrictions.
Abbott took flak this week from the Texas State Teachers Association, who slammed him for a "very weak" response to the shooting, which left 21 people, including 19 children, dead. He was also booed by a crowd while visiting a memorial to the shooting victims set up at the school.
Abbott isn't the only lawmaker to have spoken out about school doors. Following the shooting, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz repeatedly stressed the need for schools to have "one door that goes in and out" of the buildings.
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