Days after El Paso massacre, Julian Castro releases "plan to disarm hate"

[TexasTowelie]

by Patrick Svitek, Texas Tribune


Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro announced a "plan to disarm hate" Friday morning, less than a week after a deadly shooting in El Paso that targeted Hispanics.

Arguing that the "nation's weak gun laws enable violent extremism," the former U.S. housing secretary and San Antonio mayor proposed a raft of ideas to fight the rise of domestic terrorism and reduce firearm violence.

"Now is our moment to decide what kind of country we want to be," the seven-page plan says. "We can be paralyzed by fear of extremism and cower before the corporate gun lobby, or we can combat white supremacist terrorism directly and end the gun violence epidemic that has plagued our nation for too long."

To combat the kind of hate that fueled the El Paso attack, Castro proposes re-focusing domestic terrorism investigations on the "most urgent threats," creating a "White House Initiative on Disarming Hate" and convening a yearly summit for the cause hosted by the president. The initiative would get at least $100 million in federal funds every year to coordinate anti-hate programs across five federal departments. Castro said he also wants to improve hate-crime reporting and partner with other countries to combat violent extremism — something the Trump administration has declined to do.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2019/08/09/days-after-el-paso-massacre-julian-castro-releases-plan-disarm-hate/