Gavin Newsom slams Congress following Texas mass shooting: 'More focused on right to kill than right to live'

California Gov. Gavin Newsom immediately criticized the Republican controlled Congress after a deadly mass shooting at a mall in suburban Dallas, Texas killed at least 8 and injured 7 others on Saturday afternoon, slamming Congress for not passing gun control reform.

"This is freedom?? To be shot at a mall? Shot at school? Shot at church? Shot at the movies?" the Democrat governor wrote in a Twitter post shortly after police confirmed the causalities. "We have become a nation that is more focused on the right to kill than the right to live." 

Police chief Brian Harvey said during an evening presser that on Saturday, May 6 a police officer was on an unrelated call nearby when gunshots erupted at Allen Premium Outlets at 3:36 p.m. The officer "engaged the suspect and neutralized the threat," police said. A law enforcement source told Fox News Digital that the suspected shooter is dead and that they believe he acted alone.

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Nine people died in total, including the suspected shooter - seven were found dead at the scene, and two other later succumbed to their injuries after being transported to the hospital.

The two term governor has previously called out Republicans for inaction on the issue of gun control, doubling down on the need for federal gun control reform. 

"This is not what the American people want," Gov. Newsom continued. 

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According to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in a partnership with Northeastern University, 2023 is shaping up to the most mass shootings since the database began it's tracking in 2006. There has been 22 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2023, not including the shooting at the Texas mall on May 6.

"Do your d*mn job, Congress," Newsom said.

An hour following the governors initial post, he slammed Texas Governor Greg Abbott for cutting mental health funding.

"This is your reminder that @GregAbbott_TX cut $211 million in mental health funding," Newsom wrote.

In April, Abbott announced he would be moving $465.3 million from state agencies to, "support border operations." Of that amount, $210.7 million was from Texas Health & Human Services, which oversees public mental health programs.

In response to what the Republican governor has described as the federal government's inaction on border security, the governor has launched several initiatives aimed at addressing the border crisis as illegal migrants continue to stream across the southern border. 

Governor Newsom and Governor Abbott's offices did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Fox News' Andrea Vacchiano contributed to this report.

On this day in history, May 7, 1977, the song 'Hotel California' by the Eagles hits No. 1

On this day in history, May 7, 1977, the song "Hotel California" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

The six minute and eight second-long song by the Eagles spent one week atop the charts before it was bumped down to the number three spot by the song "When I Need You" by Leo Sayer, the website Best Classic Bands notes.

The album "Hotel California" was released on Dec. 8, 1976, but the title song was released as a single two months later on Feb. 22, 1977, according to rock music website SuperSeventies.

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"Every band has its creative peak," said Don Henley, founding member of the Eagles, to USA Today in 2020 of the album "Hotel California."

"I think that was ours," he continued. "We’d become very adept in the studio. We knew a lot about production. We knew more about songwriting. We had the musicianship."

He added, "We were willing to make some changes and take some risks and try to do something different from anything we’d done before."

Henley also said, "And you know, the astronauts in the Space Station get a wakeup call every day. A lot of times the folks in the [NASA] control center would play 'Hotel California.'"

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The musician laughed and then said, "Personally, I don’t know if I would want to start the day with that," as USA Today noted.

The enigmatic song has led to a variety of wild theories about its meaning, some of which amused Henley. 

Rumors also spread that the song was actually about "heroin addiction or satan worship," said Rolling Stone — something Henley vehemently denied. 

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"We were all middle-class kids from the Midwest," Henley told that publication. "'Hotel California' was our interpretation of the high life in Los Angeles."

In an interview with "60 Minutes," Henley offered another meaning.

"It’s basically a song about the dark underbelly of the American dream and about excess in America, which is something we knew a lot about," he said. 

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"Hotel California" would go on to win Record of the Year at the 1977 Grammy Awards — although the band was not in attendance that night, as they did not think they would win.

The Eagles eventually received the award at the 2016 Grammy Awards, as part of a tribute performance for the then-recently deceased co-founder Glenn Frey, who passed away in January 2016 at age 67.

The Eagles were founded in 1971 by Frey, Henley, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner, according to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame website. 

They underwent several lineup changes — and after a string of pop hits, retired in 1980.

"The ultimate plot twist is that they were reborn in 1994 for another go-round as the public demonstrated an insatiable appetite for their music and messages," said the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame entry on the band.

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Throughout the band's career, the group received 18 Grammy Award nominations and won six, in addition to a host of other awards.

The album "Hotel California" was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008, notes the Grammy organization's website. 

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