The following is a statement from TNM President Daniel Miller on the tragic mass shooting in El Paso:

In El Paso tonight, families are grieving for one of their own that will not be coming home. In the days and months to come their loss will be magnified by an empty chair at the dinner table, a phone call that never comes, or a life’s milestone that will never be reached. 

A community has been wounded and left with a scar that will take years to heal. As El Paso grieves, all Texans grieve.

Over the next weeks and months Texans will grapple with how best to address the issues brought to the front by a tragedy such as this one . Prayers, sympathy, and commiserations from everyone inside and outside of Texas is appreciated. Politicization, judgement, and insertion into our lives from those who are not Texans is inappropriate and unwelcome and those who would do so are opportunistic and amoral.

Let Texans take time to grieve. Then let Texans work on a solution that respects our right to protect ourselves, our families, our communities, and our state and does not turn all Texans into victims.