Texas governor meets with some Uvalde families. But a Robb Elementary teacher says ‘it’s all for show’

Robb Elementary School teacher Arnulfo Reyes expressed his skepticism of the governor’s visit to the town, where questions and frustrations remain over the official response to the May 24 massacre that left 19 students and two teachers dead.

Reyes said he and Abbott spoke in person Monday morning after the governor’s office reached out to him last week.

“I felt like it was just a political thing, I don’t think they cared,” Reyes said, when asked how he felt about the governor reaching out. “I think it was just it’s all for show. … If he would have cared, he wouldn’t have done the NRA (convention) in Houston after our tragedy.”

Abbott canceled an in-person appearance at the NRA convention on May 27 but did release a video message that was played in the arena. He instead attended a news conference in Uvalde.

Reyes said he asked the governor why the state’s minimum age to buy a firearm hasn’t been raised from 18 to 21. In Texas, people 18 and older may buy long guns and buyers who are at least 21 can purchase a handgun from a licensed dealer. The gunman in Uvalde bought two semi-automatic rifles around the time of his 18th birthday.

“I asked him about the age limit … why do we still have it at 18? Why couldn’t it be moved to 21?” Reyes said. “He said that they had found it unconstitutional to change the age or something like that.”

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CNN reached out to Abbott’s office for comment on Reyes’ characterization of the conversation.

Abbott has met with more than two dozen families in Uvalde and will continue talking to families, according to a statement from Abbott spokesperson Ranae Eze.

Reyes told CNN that Abbott met Monday with several families, including the mothers of Tess Mata and Eliahna Garcia, who were both killed at the school.

Abbott said he plans to make sure that all schools are safe before the school year begins and claimed Uvalde schools would now be more secure than others, according to Reyes.

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At a meeting last week, the Uvalde school board announced it plans to improve school security, including hiring additional officers for the district police force, which had five members on the day of the shooting.

Parents and other community members voiced their frustration at the meeting about what they called a lack of transparency on the part of the board over what will be done to make their children feel safe going back to school.

The school calendar has been pushed back to implement some of the security upgrades, officials have said.

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