Mary Pintea – News Editor

mvp5879@psu.edu

Texas is making headlines with their latest requests: parents of schoolchildren are being asked to keep their child’s DNA in case of an emergency. 

This comes after the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX, where 21 lives were taken by a former student. 

Legislators and government officials cite emergencies—abductions, natural disasters, and crimes—as the driving force behind their actions. Many parents have their children fingerprinted at their own will, but the actions of Texas governor Greg Abbott have struck the community as insensitive. Parents and citizens alike are enraged that the state is focusing their energy on what to do after an emergency rather than preventing the emergency from happening in the first place. 

Brett Cross, a father who lost his 10-year-old son, Uziyah Garcia, in the Robb Elementary shooting tweeted, “Yeah! Awesome! Let’s identify kids after they’ve been murdered instead of fixing issues that could ultimately prevent them from being murdered.” 

Some parents have even viewed the tests as a regrettable form of consolation for not taking earlier action. Furthermore, some have seen the test distribution as “prep-kits” for future school shootings. 

Scott Shackford, a writer at the Reason Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank, was critical of USA Today’s article entitled, “Texas schools send parents DNA kits to identify their kids’ bodies in emergencies” stating that the legislation is nothing more than a national collaborative effort. The National Child Identification Program was launched decades ago to help investigate abductions of children. The writer, Shackford, said that Uvalde had nothing to do with guns, but the lack of action taken by police. 

Though the tests are optional, they have undoubtedly raised questions about Texas’s priorities. Officials have not responded to any of the comments made by parents and the Texas community.