Uvalde Mayor Says There’s Not Enough Mental Health Resources Because We Give ‘Billions to Countries That Don’t Even Like Us’

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin called for more mental health resources in places like rural Texas following the elementary school shooting that shook his town, with a gunman taking more than 20 lives.

In a Fox News interview on Friday, the mayor said the U.S. government gives billions in foreign aid to “countries that don’t even like us,” while his town has struggled to find the funds to build a mental health facility that can service rural areas. According to the mayor, to get mental health treatment, most have to travel to bigger Texas cities like Austin or San Antonio.

“You have to go to San Antonio or Austin. They are two and a half hours away and a lot of the families don’t have the ability to get there. We keep talking about mental health, treating the issue, and we need to quit talking about it,” the mayor said. “We give billions of dollars away to countries that don’t even like us. We ought to take that money and invest in our own country and build facilities.”

McLaughlin’s comments somewhat echo points made by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott following the shooting. While there have been frequent and loud calls for gun control measures in Texas to try to prevent mass shootings, Abbott dismissed the idea at a press conference, saying more resources should be put into mental health services in response to the shooting.

McLaughlin said while appearing on America Reports that his city did try and build a mental health facility before the Covid-19 pandemic, but they could not find the funds.

“Two years ago we started working right before covid started, the city donated 7.5 acres and we were trying to get a mental health hospital built in Uvalde because it would be the hub for 44 counties to come to Uvalde and receive treatment” he said. “Of course, you know, all of a sudden it was a go and then all of a sudden we were told we had to raise $26 million to build this facility. We don’t have that kind of money.”

On the growing questions and criticism surrounding the Uvalde police response to the shooting, which included leaving the shooter barricaded in a room with students for approximately an hour, McLaughlin was uninterested in specifically commenting, saying he’s “not on the law enforcement side.”

“You know, whatever happened it’s a tragedy, we have to find out what mistakes were made and what happened, and get to the bottom of it,” he said. “I’m not on the law enforcement side so I have not been privy to all their investigation.”