The Texas massacre in May exposed systemic failures and poor decision-making, with police ignoring their active shooter training, according to a Texas state report. Alison Anderman, senior counsel and director of local policy at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said the response to the country’s “unique epidemic of gun violence” is “horrendous.” “Where there are more guns, there is more gun violence,” he told USA Today. Ms. Anderman said students in the district are “far more likely” to be killed by guns than acts of domestic violence, interpersonal violence in the community, suicide or random shootings. Dubbed “the most beloved and most offensive rifle,” the semi-auto was originally designed as a combat weapon. While handguns account for more deaths annually in the United States, AR-15s are often used in mass shootings that grab headlines. The rifle was used by the Uvalde school shooter, as well as by Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who shot dead two people and injured another at a Black Lives Matter protest in Wisconsin. In the wake of Uvalde, the second-worst school shooting in US history, Democrats pushed for gun bans and mandatory background checks for new gun owners. Republicans, meanwhile, have focused on America’s mental health crisis rather than easy access to guns.