Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Texas Schools Now Sending Parents DNA Kits To Identify Students' Bodies 'In Case Of Emergency'

gon control activists stage protest
OLIVER CONTRERAS/AFP via Getty Images

A law requiring the kits passed the Texas state legislature in 2021, nearly a year before the deadly mass shooting in Uvalde.

A new move by Texas schools takes the state's and the country's gun violence crisis to a whole new dystopian level.

Texas school are now sending students' parents DNA kits so that they can identify students' bodies "in case of emergency."


The law passed the state's Senate last year, nearly a full year before May's horrific school shooting in Uvalde, the second-deadliest in America's all too long history of school shootings.

The move has shocked and enraged many who feel the move is just yet another effort by the state's heavily Republican government, politicians and Governor Greg Abbott to dodge meaningful action on gun violence and gun safety.

The law mandating 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," was passed last year in the wake of a shooting at a school in Santa Fe, Texas in which eight students and two teachers were killed.

It requires schools to provide ink-free fingerprint and DNA identification cards to parents of all students in kindergarten through sixth grade that can be stored at home by parents. Parents are not required to use the kits.

The move comes just months after the shooting in Uvalde, after which many of the young victims were unidentifiable due to the extent of the injuries they sustained in the shooting. DNA swabs had to be provided by parents to positively confirm identity for some victims.

The move has left many Texas parents outraged. One of them, combat veteran and former FBI and CIA agent Tracy Walder, spoke to TODAY about receiving the kits, calling the move "beyond comprehension."

"I worry every single day when I send my kid to school."

"Now we're giving parents DNA kits so that when their child is killed with the same weapon of war I had when I was in Afghanistan, parents can use them to identify them?"

Walder went on to say that the kits send a clear message: The Texas government intends to do nothing about gun violence, no matter how damaging it may be to the state's children.

"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."
"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?"

Another parent, Brent Cross, whose 10-year-old son was murdered at Uvalde, was a bit more pointed in his criticism. He tweeted:

"Yeah! Awesome! Let’s identify kids after they’ve been murdered instead of fixing issues that could ultimately prevent them from being murdered."
"It’s like wiping your a** before you take a sh*t."

Texas parent Wendi Aarons was even more to the point about how the DNA kits make her feel.

"It makes me physically sick."

Many on Twitter shared these parents' sentiments, as the news left them appalled and infuriated.










Adding to the absurdity is the law's stated reason for the DNA kits: to “help locate and return a missing or trafficked child.”

Governor Abbott, his Republican Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, both Republican Texas Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn and scores of state-level Republican legislators in Texas are all backed by the National Rifle Association, which spends more money lobbying in Texas than any other state in America.

More from Trending

Kristi Noem; Bryon Noem
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Bryon Noem/Facebook

Kristi Noem Asks For 'Privacy And Prayers' After Allegations That Her Husband Lives A Double Life As A Crossdresser Go Public

On Tuesday morning, the Daily Mail—a British tabloid paper based in London—published a story with the headline: "Secret double life of Kristi Noem's crossdressing husband Bryon: The pouting 'busty bimbo' photos and trove of explicit messages."

According to the Daily Mail, Bryon Noem—who was left behind in South Dakota while Kristi Noem allegedly lived in Coast Guard housing in Washington D.C. with her longtime affair partner Corey Lewandowski, who is also married—had been engaging in online exchanges with women who were part of the bimbofication sexual subculture.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Marco Rubio
ABC

Marco Rubio's Tone Deaf Attack On How Iran Is 'Spending Its Wealth' Is A Total Self-Own

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was called out for hypocrisy after he criticized Iran during an appearance on Good Morning America, admonishing the country for spending "billions of dollars" on weapons instead of its people.

Rubio appeared on the program to defend the increasingly unpopular war, which kicked off after the U.S., in a joint operation with Israel, authorized strikes on February 28.

Keep ReadingShow less
Tim Walz
Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Official GOP X Account Slammed After Tweeting Homophobic Jab Aimed At Tim Walz

After Minnesota Governor Tim Walz shared a post backing the "No Kings" protests over the weekend, Republicans lashed out with a tweet that had more than homophobic undertones.

Last October, massive crowds flooded streets across the country on for “No Kings” protests denouncing Trump’s policies, with major demonstrations in New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Miami, and Los Angeles. Organizers said the demonstrations—which drew nearly seven million participants nationwide—remained overwhelmingly peaceful.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump; Gavin Newsom
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images; Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Trump Just Unveiled The Design For His Presidential Library—And Gavin Newsom Totally Clocked One Of Its Bizarre Features

California Gov. Gavin Newsom perfectly slammed President Donald Trump by comparing a proposed gold statue of the president—planned for display in Trump’s future presidential library—to the grandiose monuments erected for authoritarian leaders throughout history.

Eric Trump, the president’s son, released a video Monday showcasing renderings of the proposed Donald J. Trump Presidential Library in Miami, Florida.

Keep ReadingShow less
screenshot of mukbang with Zohran Mamdani and Sam Levine
C-SPAN

MAGA Gets Brutal Wakeup Call After Melting Down Over A Video Of Zohran Mamdani Talking With His Mouth Full

New York City Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani filmed a "mukbang"-style video alongside NYC's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Commissioner Sam Levine while eating Taco Bell and Dunkin' Donuts.

A mukbang is an often live-streamed video featuring a person eating while interacting with their audience. Mayor Mamdani's video was designed to reach a younger audience, so they used the mukbang format first made popular by South Korean content creators.

Keep ReadingShow less