Summary
In the aftermath of two Texas tragedies, more details and more actions are expected. As always, you can follow the latest from reporters and analysts covering US gun control here. For now, here’s what’s happened so far today:
In the aftermath of a mass shooting where 8 people were killed at a shopping mall in Allen, Texas, on Saturday, authorities have not yet confirmed a motive. Mauricio Garcia, the 33 year-old suspected gunman who was killed on the scene by police, reportedly espoused right-wing extremism and white supremacy online and in a patch displayed on his chest.
The shooting was the second deadliest of 2023 during a time when the US is on pace to set a new record in mass shootings.
Texas lawmakers in the Republican-controlled state legislature voted to advance a bill to raise the minimum age for buying a semi-automatic weapon to 21.
Police in Brownsville identified the suspect in a separate incident where a car plowed into a group of people waiting at a bus stop outside a migrant shelter on Sunday morning.
During a Monday morning news conference, authorities named George Alvarez and accused him of killing eight people and injuring 10 others with his car. Alvarez, who attempted to flee but was held down at the scene, was booked on reckless driving. With bail set at $3.6m, he now faces additional charges.
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As people across the US try to process yet another heartbreaking and gruesome tragedy, more have begun raising alarms about the images of the aftermath that surface online. Once shielded from easy access or public view, now videos and photos are shared across social media, creating more vicarious trauma and PTSD, even for those far from the affected communities.
“Millions of people being bombarded with videos of horribly mangled dead children when trying to get basic information,” the NBC reporter Ben Collins tweeted, “is going to give people the kind of PTSD we don’t have a name for yet.”
Millions of people being bombarded with videos of a horribly mangled dead children when trying to get basic information on this site is going to give people a kind of PTSD we don’t have a name for yet.
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) May 7, 2023
Twitter has come under criticism for enabling users to spread graphic images, specifically after its shakeup in leadership, which left content moderators in shorter supply.
But according to the New York Times, the issue is a thorny one, and isn’t at all new:
Graphic content was never completely banned by Twitter, even before Mr. Musk took over. The platform, for instance, has allowed images of people killed or wounded in the war in Ukraine, arguing that they are newsworthy and informative. The company sometimes places warning labels or pop-ups on sensitive content, requiring that users opt in to see the imagery.
While many users clearly spread the images of the massacre, including of the dead attacker, for shock value, others retweeted them to underscore the horrors of gun violence. “The N.R.A.’s America,” one tweet read. “This isn’t going away,” said another.
Comparing content decisions to the ones long faced by news media, the Times highlighted the political or newsworthy importance some images or videos possess, and how tech companies are being thrust into a position of navigating the issues on an enormous scale, across millions of viewers.
But according to a UCLA professor, there are important distinctions.
Sarah T. Roberts, a professor at the University of California Los Angeles who studies content moderation, drew a distinction between editors at traditional media companies and social media platforms, which are not bound by the ethics that traditional journalists adhere to – including minimizing harm to the viewer and the friends and family of the people who were killed.
“I understand where people on social media are coming from who want to circulate these images in the hopes that it will make a change,” Ms. Roberts said. “But unfortunately, social media as a business is not set up to support that. What it’s set up to do is to profit from the circulation of these images.”
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