Why did they first say the Uvalde murderer was armed with a "handgun" ?

[blogslug]

Abbott says it about 40 seconds into his original briefing:

By the time Abbott said this, news had already spread across the internet that the shooter purchased two AR-15 rifles on his 18th birthday. Photos from his personal social media. We all saw them.

I swear I heard this little detail repeated several times in the initial hours after the massacre.

Why would they say that? Even if a handgun was part of his arsenal at the time, why would they stress that while describing "a rifle" as unconfirmed?

Am I imagining things? Am I seeing shenanigans where there are none? Why would they get that information so wrong?

[brush]

1. Much of the first reports were made up stuff to cover their asses.

Last edited Sat May 28, 2022, 06:15 PM - Edit history (1)

The school resource officer was off somewhere and not at the school where he was supposed to be so they came up with yarns to hide that. It was even reported that there was a brief encounter with the gunman. Also it was mistakenly reported that two officers were slightly injured in a encounter with the killer.

All lies that the media didn't buy so they had to keep coming up with more stories.

[gldstwmn]

2. He wanted people to think the weapon was illegally obtained.

[NickB79]

3. Because handguns are harder to regulate than AR's

If a shooter uses a handgun, no politician will seriously suggest a handgun ban. Handguns are the most common weapon for self defense in the nation. There's a lot more support for regulating or banning assault rifles. So part of it may have been hope on his part, because a mass shooting with a handgun is less bad politically.

By saying it was a handgun right off the bat, it also muddies the water and sows doubt about which weapons we should focus on. Now people will argue how many were killed by handgun vs rifle, could he have killed just as many without the rifle, etc. It becomes a smokescreen to hide behind.

[people]

4. Why did he say hand gun

Because he knows it's HORRIBLE that an assault weapon again was used to commit mass murder in his state where an 18 year old can buy an assault weapon. Trying to cya his self and that of the gun lobby. I assumed he was probably lying when I first heard it.

[IcyPeas]

5. initial reports also said there were only 2 fatalities.

poor Abbott was lied to and he's livid.

[Iggo]

7. Livid, I tell you!

[blogslug]

8. He said Livid twice!

You know he meant serious business. Sigh.

[PortTack]

6. I believe it has been determined that he had a hand gun and an AR15

[blogslug]

9. Was it though?

Or was the handgun part of the initial reports and has now vanished into thin air?

[PJMcK]

10. We cannot trust Abbott or the police

They lie to cover their incompetence and cowardice.