Uvalde school shooting

Dwyane Wade Calls for Action Following Texas School Shooting

The former Miami Heat star has made efforts to combat gun violence in recent years

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Dwyane Wade, who has been outspoken about gun violence in recent years, called for action following Tuesday's shooting at a Texas elementary school that claimed the lives of 19 students and two educators.

Following what was the 27th school shooting this year in the United States, per Education Week, Wade tweeted Tuesday night that what happened to the victims "is NOT the norm! It's a tragedy."

Wade, the former Miami Heat star who has made recent efforts to combat gun violence, then criticized political leaders for failing to do everything in their ability to keep citizens safe.

"Why have all that power and not do everything in your POWER to protect our children and our elderly," Wade tweeted.

Following the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Wade and his wife Gabrielle Union donated $200,000 to the "March for Our Lives" gun control rally organized by students of the school.

After learning that one of the victims of the Parkland shooting, 17-year-old Joaquin Oliver, was buried in Wade's replica jersey, Wade met with Oliver's family at a Heat game. He presented them with a jersey and a pair of custom sneakers from Wade's footwear line embroidered with Oliver's name and the Stoneman Douglas logo.

Wade also sponsored an art exhibit called "Parkland 17" that honored the victims of the shooting. It featured a mural of Oliver and a "Ring Your Rep" phone booth that allowed people to call local representatives about preventing gun violence.

It's a subject that hits close to home for Wade, whose cousin was murdered in Chicago in 2016.

"When it's happened to your family, when your auntie is the one that's crying on your shoulder, if you're looking at your nephews and your nieces and their whole life is turned upside down, you're looking a three-week-old baby, and you realize she will never get to know her mother," Wade told NBA TV at the time. "Like, all these things when it's up close, when it's personal, when it's in your family, it really becomes real."

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