Texas schools send parents DNA kits to help identify students in case of shootings 

Texas is sending DNA kits to public school students to help their parents identify them “in case of an emergency,” sparking outrage among several parents. 

The Texas public school system is sending K-6 parents ink-free fingerprint and DNA identification cards for them to turn over to law enforcement agencies in case there is an emergency. 

After a school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas left eight students and two teachers dead in 2018 Texas state legislature passed Senate Bill No.2158 in 2021, requiring the Texas Education Agency to "provide identification kits to school districts and open-enrollment charter schools for distribution to the parent or legal custodian of certain students." 

The distribution of the DNA kits comes after 19 students and two teachers were killed after a shooter mercilessly opened fire within a school in Uvalde, Texas. 

Police had a hard time identifying many of the children that were gunned down inside Robb Elementary school due to the extent of their injuries. In many cases, family members had to p provide DNA swabs to positively identify the remains of their loved ones. 

Officials hope that the DNA kits being sent to parents can help avoid putting family members through something like that again. 

However, some parents are reacting against the kids, claiming that the government should address the broader issue of security in schools instead. 

"This sends two messages: The first is that the government is not going to do anything to solve the problem. This is their way of telling us that," Walder said. "The second is that us parents are now forced to have conversations with our kids that they may not be emotionally ready for. My daughter is 7. What do I tell her?" said Tracy Walder, a former CIA and BI agent when she heard her daughter would be bringing home a kit. 

“Yeah! Awesome! Let’s identify kids after they’ve been murdered instead of fixing issues that could ultimately prevent them from being murdered,” posted Brett Cross on Twitter, whose 10-year old son was killed in the Uvalde school shooting.