The real cause was a fundamentally immoral war on drugs that routinely requires violence in response to peaceful activities.

Hours after the deadly attack on the home of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas, Joe Gamaldi, the president of the Houston Police Officers Union, condemned "the ones that are out there spreading the rhetoric that police officers are the enemy." He warned that "we're going to be keeping track of all y'all," and "we're gonna make sure that we hold you accountable every time you stir the pot on our police officers."

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo later rebuked Gamaldi for his "over-the-top" remarks. "Joe Gamaldi's emotions got the best of him," Acevedo said. "This had nothing to do with any of the stuff that he was talking about."

Yet Acevedo could not resist tossing out his own red herring by criticizing "elected officials" who fail to address the "proliferation of firearms in the hands of people that have no business having guns." The Washington Post praised Acevedo for seizing on the horribly botched drug raid to reiterate his support for "sensible gun safety policies" such as "reinstatement of the assault weapons ban," "a ban on high-capacity magazines" and requiring that "unlicensed private dealers do background checks at gun shows."