Former President Donald Trump has defended the rights of gun owners in statements at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in Houston, three days after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school across the street. the state.
Trump paid tribute to the victims of the Texas shooting by reading the names of each child and teacher as the bells rang before rejecting calls for gun control.
“Unfortunately, even before the sun set on the horrible day of the tragedy, we witnessed a now-familiar parade of cynical politicians seeking to take advantage of the tears of families crying to increase their own power and take away our our constitutional rights, “Trump said.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at NRA conference. (9 News)
“Every time an upset or insane person commits such a horrible crime, there is always a growing effort by some in our society to use the suffering of others to move forward on their own extreme political agenda.”
Trump added the evil as the shooter of the Texas school massacre is a reason to arm and not disarm.
One by one, leaders like Trump took to the stage at the annual NRA convention and denounced the Texas massacre.
And one by one, they insisted that changing U.S. gun laws or further restricting access to firearms was not the answer.
“We must not react to evil and tragedy by abandoning the Constitution or violating the rights of our law-abiding citizens,” said Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
“Ultimately, as we all know, what stops the bad guys is the good guys.”
People gather in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center to protest the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Houston on Friday, May 27, 2022. (AP Photo / Jae C. Hong) (AP)
Cruz accused those who advocated new gun control measures following the shooting at Uvalde Elementary School of “demagoguery” and “signaling virtue.”
He said “there have been too many curses in these killings; we must act resolutely to stop them.” But he also said that the proposals of gun control advocates “would not have stopped these mass killings, and they know that.”
Wayne LaPierre, the group’s chief executive, began the event by saying that “every member of the NRA and I know that all decent Americans are in mourning right now.
“Twenty-one beautiful ruthless and indiscriminate lives extinguished by a criminal monster.”
However, he said that “restricting the fundamental human rights of law-abiding Americans to defend themselves is not the answer. It has never been.”
Hundreds of people in the auditorium stood up and bowed their heads in a moment of silence for the victims of the Uvalde school shooting. There were a lot of empty seats.
Protesters chant slogans outside the George R. Brown Convention Center to protest the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Houston on Friday, May 27, 2022. (AP Photo / Jae C. Hong) (AP)
Among protesters outside, Democrat Beto O’Rourke, who is challenging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in the race for governor, marked a list of previous school shootings and called on convention attendees to “join to us to make sure this doesn’t happen again in this country. “
“The time to stop Uvalde was right after Sandy Hook,” O’Rourke said.
“The time for us to stop Uvalde was right after Parkland. The time for us to stop Uvalde was right after Santa Fe High School.
“The time for us to stop the next mass shooting in this country is right now, right here, today with each of us.”
Some scheduled speakers and performers withdrew from the event, including several Texas lawmakers and American Pie singer Don McLean, who said it would be “disrespectful” to go ahead with his act after the event. ‘last mass shooting in the country.
People gather by booths near some of the signage in the hallways outside the showrooms at the annual NRA meeting held at the George R. Brown Convention Center on Thursday, May 26, 2022 in Houston. (Photo AP / Michael Wyke) (AP)
Texas Gov. Dan Patrick said Friday morning that he had decided not to speak at an event breakfast after a “consideration and discussion with NRA officials.”
The NRA said that people attending the gun show will “reflect on” the Uvalde school shooting, “pray for the victims, recognize our patriotic members, and pledge to redouble our commitment to ensuring the safety of our schools. “
The meeting is the first for the troubled organization since 2019, after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
The organization has tried to regroup after a period of severe legal and financial turmoil that included a failed bankruptcy effort, a class action lawsuit and a fraud investigation by the New York Attorney General.
Once among the most powerful political organizations in the country, the NRA has seen its influence wane after a major drop in political spending.
While President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress have renewed calls for stricter gun laws following the Uvalde shooting, members of the ANR board and other conference attendees declined to talk about banning or limit access to firearms.
Mounted police officers tell protesters to move across the street from the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on Friday, May 27, 2022. (AP Photo / Jae C. Hong) (AP)
Larry Miller, 56, of Huntington Beach, California, said he had no problem with the NRA meeting taking place so soon after the Uvalde shooting.
He described the shooting as “very sad and unfortunate” and said that the gunman “had no respect for the freedoms of the people we have here in this country”.
“We all share these rights, so to be respectful of the rights of others is to respect the lives of others, and I think with that kind of mindset we should be here,” he said.
Samuel Thornburg, 43, a Southwest Airlines maintenance worker in Houston who attended the NRA meeting, said: “Weapons are not bad. Evil is the people who commit the crime. Our schools have to “Be more closed. There needs to be more guards.”
Convention attendees look at various rifles and pistols in display cases that are raffled off at the Gallery of Guns booth at the NRA’s annual meeting at the George R. Brown Convention Center on Thursday, May 26, 2022 in Houston. (Photo AP / Michael Wyke) (AP)
Inside the convention hall, thousands of people walked in, stopping at booths displaying pistols, rifles, AR-style firearms, knives, clothing, and gun racks. Outside, police set up metal barriers in a large park where hundreds of protesters and counter-protesters gathered in front of the downtown convention center.
“Assassins!” they shouted some in Spanish. “Shame!” others called the attendees.
Among the protesters was the singer Little Joe, of the popular Texan band Little Joe and La Familia, who said that in the more than 60 years he has spent touring the world, no other country where he has been has faced so many mass shootings like the United States.
“Of course, this is the best country in the world,” he said. “But what good is it if we can’t protect lives, especially our children?”
Texas has experienced a series of mass shootings in recent years. During this time, the Republican-led Legislature and the governor relaxed the gun laws.
Protesters hold a rally in Discovery Green Park across the street from the annual National Rifle Association meeting held at the George R. Brown Convention Center on Friday, May 27, 2022 in Houston. (Photo AP / Michael Wyke) (AP)
There are precedents for the NRA to meet during local mourning and controversy. The organization released a shortened version of its 1999 meeting in Denver about a week after the deadly shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado.
Actor Charlton Heston, president of the ANR at the time, told attendees that “horrible acts” should not become opportunities to limit constitutional rights and denounced critics for converting members of the ANR. ANR as “dolins”.
Country music singer Larry Gatlin, who withdrew from a planned appearance at this year’s convention, said he hoped “the NRA would reconsider some of its outdated and unthinking positions.”
“While I agree with most NRA positions, I’ve come to believe that while background checks wouldn’t stop all crazy people with a gun, it’s at least a step in the right direction. right direction, “Gatlin said.
Country singers Lee Greenwood and Larry Stewart also retired, Variety reported.
Nancy Pablo, with Alianza Latina International, holds crosses with photos of victims of Robb Elementary School shooting while protesting with others at Discovery Green Park, in front of the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting at the George R. Brown Convention Center Friday, May 27, 2022 in Houston. (Photo AP / Michael Wyke) (AP)
Most American adults think mass shootings would occur less frequently if guns were harder to get, and believe schools and other public places have become less secure than they were two decades ago, according to polls.
Many specific measures that would curb access to weapons or ammunition also receive majority support. A May AP-NORC poll found, for example, that 51% of American adults favor a national ban on the sale of AR-15 rifles and similar semi-automatic weapons.
But the numbers are very partisan, with 75 percent of Democrats agreeing with only 27 percent of Republicans.
In addition to Patrick, two Texas congressmen who were scheduled to speak Friday – U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw – were no longer attending because of what their staff said were changes in their schedules. .
Abbott, who was to attend, had to address the convention through a pre-recorded video.
Although personal firearms are allowed at the convention, the NRA said weapons would not be allowed during the session with Trump because of Secret Service security protocols.