Divisons run deep in Uvalde after school shooting: ‘If you’re not trying you’re complicit’

Prior to the shooting, the city grappled with police corruption, entrenched gun culture and the lasting wounds of segregation. Now the illusion of Uvalde Strong' has ruptured as families demand change

This story was originally published by The Trace, a non-profit newsroom covering gun violence in America. Sign up for its newsletters here.

It took most of the summer for the Uvalde school district to fire Pete Arredondo, the chief of the district police department whose blunders were largely blamed for the high number of casualties at the horrific mass shooting at Robb elementary school. The families of the victims acknowledged that it was the first real response to community demands for accountability, but parents, grandparents and siblings have not stopped organizing to oust - by protest or by election - those who were in charge on 24 May. Now, they're fighting to change gun laws in Texas, a state that prohibits its agencies from enforcing any gun control legislation passed since January 2021.