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When Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) Attended a vigil on Wednesday for the victims of the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, he walked away from an interview after a British journalist asked him why the mass shootings happen “only in America “. ”
Cruz joined Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and other local and state leaders in a vigil for the 19 children and two adults killed in Tuesday’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. Cruz, who is among Republicans who vehemently opposes Democrats’ proposals to extend background checks on arms sales, has called for increased security in schools and condemned the “stance. politics “after the attack. It is also the legislature whose political action campaigns or committees have accepted the most money from the gun rights lobby, according to the non-profit OpenSecrets.
During an interview with Sky News British journalist Mark Stone, Cruz was asked, who hugged and met with the vigilantes, if this was the time to reform gun laws. Cruz responded by saying, “You know, it’s easy to go into politics.”
“But it’s important, it’s at the heart of the problem,” Stone said, according to a video of the interview seen more than 1 million times since Thursday morning.
From there, the two had a back-and-forth tension over gun reform laws.
“I understand that’s where they like to go in the media,” Cruz said.
The Sky News reporter responded that this was not the case, saying that many of the people he spoke to on the eve also had gun control.
“The proposals of the Democrats and the media inevitably, when a violent psychopath kills people …” Cruz said, before being cut by Stone. The journalist said the alleged shooter was “a violent psychopath who is able to get a weapon so easily: an 18-year-old with two AR-15s.”
The senator ignored him and continued: “If you want to stop violent crime, the proposals that the Democrats have, none of them would have stopped it.”
Then Stone asked, “Why is this only happening in your country? …. Why only in America? Why is this American exceptionalism so horrible?
That’s when Cruz replied, “You know, I’m sorry you think American exceptionality is horrible. You have your political agenda. God loves you. “
When he tried to leave, Stone said he just wanted to “understand why you don’t think guns are the problem.”
“It’s just an American problem,” the reporter told Cruz.
At the end of the exchange, Cruz again ignored the journalist’s question and accused Stone of pushing the propaganda before he left.
“Why do people from all over the world come to America? Because it is the freest, most prosperous and secure country on Earth,” the senator said. “Stop being a propagandist.”
A Cruz spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday morning.
The exchange of fire comes shortly before Cruz is scheduled to speak at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting during Memorial Day weekend in Houston, a few hundred miles from Uvalde. The event is the largest gun lobby meeting this year and is coming after cancellations due to the coronavirus pandemic. It will also feature talks from a group that includes Abbott and former President Donald Trump.
Gun rights groups have donated more than $ 442,000 to Cruz’s campaigns or PACs during his career, most of any legislator between 1989 and 2020, according to data from the 2021 Federal Electoral Commission quoted by OpenSecrets . Cruz and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) Are two of the top three lawmakers who have received financial contributions from gun rights supporters, according to Axios.
Cruz has faced criticism from Democrats and Liberals in recent days after tweeting his thoughts and prayers to the victims, saying he and his wife, Heidi, were “fervently raising children and families in prayer. ‘horrible shooting in Uvalde’. MP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.) questioned why Cruz was still scheduled to speak at the NRA convention, while MP Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) Tweeted a four-letter insult to the senator republican.
Cruz was among Republicans at the Abbott press conference in Uvalde on Wednesday when Texas Democratic Gov. Beto O’Rourke interrupted the governor to tell him he was “doing nothing” to stop the next one. mass shooting. Cruz, who was behind Abbott, told O’Rourke that “his” while the Democrat was escorted out of the auditorium.
Beto O’Rourke confronts Abbott at Uvalde: “You’re not doing anything”
“It’s up to you. Until you decide to do something, this will continue to happen,” O’Rourke told Abbott, who primarily avoided eye contact with the Democrat and did not respond. “Someone has to defend the children of this state, or they will continue to be murdered.”
Cruz also caught the eye of one of his favorite sparring teammates, night host Jimmy Kimmel. On ABC, Kimmel offered an emotional call to Cruz and Republicans to pass laws that could help prevent future mass shootings. Although background check bills such as HR 8 have been passed in the House, Senate Democrats and experts are pessimistic that an agreement could be made to pass it into law.
The HR 8 gun background check bill probably won’t pass, even after Uvalde
“I don’t think Ted Cruz cares about children. I don’t. I refuse to believe he’s not affected by that. He’s a father. I bet he went to bed sick to his stomach last night. “It’s easy to call someone a monster. But he’s not a monster, he’s a human being. And some people may not like to hear me say that, but it’s true,” Kimmel said. “So that’s what I’d like to say to Ted Cruz, to the people, to Governor Abbott and to everyone: it’s okay to admit that you were wrong. In fact, it’s not just okay, you have to admit that you made a mistake when your mistake is to kill children in your state “.
He added: “It takes an old person to do such a thing. It takes a brave person to do such a thing. And I think these men are brave people? No, I don’t. I don’t. But man, I’d love to they would surprise me. “
But on Fox News, Cruz criticized what he called the “political stance” of Democrats like O’Rourke after the Uvalde attack. He told host Jesse Watters that he wants schools to install bulletproof doors and bulletproof glass to help prevent gunfire.
“Have an entrance and exit door to the school and have a door, armed police officers at that door,” Cruz argued. “If that had happened, if these federal grants had gone to this school, when that psychopath arrived, the armed police could have taken him out and we would have had 19 children and two teachers still alive.”