Texas Is Giving Parents DNA Kits So Kids Can Be ID'd After Shootings
The program goes into effect less than a year after the Uvalde massacre, when parents had to provide samples to identify their deceased children
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According to local news station KTRK, 3.8 million optional kits are expected to be distributed to parents of children attending kindergarten through 8th grade as part of the program. The kits will allow parents to keep a description, saliva sample, and fingerprints on file for their child that can then be turned over to authorities should they need to be identified.
Following the killing of 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, reports emerged that the bodies of some children had been so disfigured by the shooter that DNA was required to establish their identity. Providing parents with DNA kits to preempt a similar situation was not well received by some Texas parents. "It's like wiping your ass before you take a shit," Brett Cross, who's son Uziyah Garcia was killed in Uvalde, wrote on Twitter. "Let's identify kids after they've been murdered instead of fixing issues that could ultimately prevent them from being murdered."