'We have to harden these targets' says Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on schools

The Lieutenant Governor of Texas said Tuesday that the shooting in Uvalde that killed 19 children and 2 adults shows that leader must do more to “harden” vulnerable targets against future would-be shooters.

Dan Patrick told Tucker Carlson on his Fox News show that the massacre was “pure evil” and acknowledged that it was the fourth major mass shooting in the state since he was elected with Gov. Greg Abbott back in 2014.

Patrick said that Texas “had done a lot of things” after the most recent shooting at Sante Fe High School near Houston in 2018, where 10 died. But more could be done.

“We have to harden these targets so no one can get in, ever, except maybe through one entrance,” Patrick told Carlson.

“Maybe that would help, maybe that would stop someone.”

Patrick warned against politicizing the tragedy and expressed hope that President Joe Biden “tries to unify, not divide us on this.”

“We’re a coarse society,” said Patrick.

“We’re a society that is just at each other’s throats all the time, and we’re better than this as a nation.”

18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered Robb Elementary School on Tuesday around noon with a handgun and rifle and opened fire in a classroom. He barricaded himself inside and was taken down by an off-duty Customs and Border Control agent from an elite tactical unit that ran in without backup while the shooting was still ongoing.

Ramos had a troubled history but no criminal record of mental health problems. He got into an argument with his grandmother Tuesday morning, shooting her before deciding to attack the school.

The grandmother, believed to be in her 60s, survived but remains in critical condition.