Law enforcement officers are still looking for Francisco Oropesa, the suspect in the recent shooting in San Jacinto County, Texas, that left five people dead inside their house. Fox News’ Bill Melugin reported that Oropesa is a Mexican national who has been deported multiple times for illegal entry into the United States.
This would mean that Oropesa is not an American citizen, and yet, a lot of gun control activists are using the shooting as further proof that American citizens should be disarmed. Here’s Beto O’Rourke’s take, for example:
Our hearts go out to those who lost loved ones in San Jacinto County last night.
AR-15s are designed for one purpose: to kill people.
We either accept their continued sale as the price of living (and dying) in America, or we do the right thing & limit them to military use.
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) April 29, 2023
That’s an absolutely moronic read on the situation, but is it really fair to expect people like Beto O’Rourke to be honest about the circumstances when our media — whose job it literally is to report the actual news, what actually happened — can’t even be bothered?
Check out how TIME Magazine is covering the shooting today:
A Texas man went next door with a rifle and began shooting his neighbors, killing an 8-year-old and four others inside the house, after the family asked him to stop firing rounds in his yard because they were trying to sleep, authorities said Saturday https://t.co/Tqw3e2saGb
— TIME (@TIME) May 1, 2023
That tweet is also the first sentence of TIME’s article:
A Texas man went next door with a rifle and began shooting his neighbors, killing an 8-year-old and four others inside the house, after the family asked him to stop firing rounds in his yard because they were trying to sleep, authorities said Saturday.
If you continue reading the article, you’ll find that “Texas man” is about as specific as TIME is willing to get about the suspect. No mention of his name, which is highly unusual following a mass shooting where the suspect has been identified by name. And no mention of his immigration status or history of being deported. So, if TIME is your source for information on the shooting, you could be forgiven for assuming that the shooting suspect was just another white, gun-totin’ Texan.
Hey @CommunityNotes this tweet is misleading. He wasn't a Texas man, he was an illegal from Mexico!
— Lucian (@lucianwords) May 1, 2023
Obviously, we’re not suggesting that all illegal immigrants are would-be murderers. But that does appear to be the case for Francisco Oropesa, and it’s telling that outlets like TIME are deliberately ignoring that.
He isn't a Texan.
— Sith Khan (@sithkhan) May 1, 2023
“Texas man”
Keep digging your credibility grave, corrupt media.
— Ultra Grateful Calvin 🇺🇸🐶🏒 🎶 (@shoveitjack) May 1, 2023
Of course, despite not having enough space to share any details about the suspect, TIME did manage to find some room for a bit of gun control advocacy at the end:
The U.S. is setting a record pace for mass killings in 2023. The violence is sparked by a range of motives: murder-suicides and domestic violence; gang retaliation; school shootings and workplace vendettas. All have taken the lives of four or more people at once since Jan. 1.
Notice nothing about anti-Christian bias possibly being among the range of motives, but we’re sure there was just a character limit or something.
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