HOUSTON (AP) – Former President Donald Trump defends gun rights in statements at annual National Rifle Association convention in Houston, three days after gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school ‘other side of the state. .
With protesters shouting out, Trump was due to call on Friday to “drastically” change the nation’s mental health approach and “a top-down security check on schools in this country,” while rejecting the calls to disarm gun owners, he reported. fragments of his speech.
“The existence of evil in our world is not a reason to disarm law-abiding citizens; the existence of evil is one of the best reasons to arm law-abiding citizens,” he says in prepared comments.
Trump was among the Republican leaders who lined up to speak at the event, where the gun rights group said attendees planned to “reflect” and deflect any blame for the school shooting. to Uvalde. Hundreds of protesters angered by the armed violence demonstrated outside, including some with crosses with photos of the victims of the shooting.
Wayne LaPierre, executive director of the group, began the event by saying that “all members of the NRA and I know that all decent Americans are in mourning right now. Twenty-one beautiful ruthless and indiscriminate lives extinguished for 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.
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 that this no longer happens in this country. “
“The time to stop Uvalde was right after Sandy Hook,” O’Rourke said. “The time to stop Uvalde was right after Parkland. The time we stopped Uvalde was right after Santa Fe High School. The time for us to stop the next mass shooting in this country is now same, right here, today with each and every one 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. Texas Gov. Dan Patrick said Friday morning that he had decided not to speak at an event’s 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.
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.”
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. “What a 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 US.
“Of course, this is the best country in the world,” he said. “But what good is it if we can’t protect our lives, especially those of our children?”
Texas has experienced a series of mass shootings in recent years. During this time, the Republican-led legislature and governor have relaxed gun laws.
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.
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% of Democrats agreeing with only 27% of Republicans.
In addition to Patrick, two Texas congressmen who had been 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 timetable. Abbott, who was to attend, had to address the convention through a pre-recorded video.
But others advanced with their appearances, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, and Trump.
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.
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Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press writer David A. Lieb contributed from Jefferson City, Missouri.
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