houston
CNN
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Former President Donald Trump and other Republican leaders have rejected efforts to overhaul gun laws and mocked Democrats and activists calling for changes Friday at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention.
This weekend’s gathering in Houston takes place 280 miles east of the South Texas town of Uvalde, where a gunman killed 19 children and two adults at an elementary school on Tuesday.
Hours before top Republicans were to speak in Houston, law enforcement officials in Uvalde acknowledged they had waited too long to storm a classroom where a gunman was shooting children and teachers.
But those mistakes, and their ramifications on proposals to put more armed police and teachers in schools, were not mentioned in speeches by Trump and other Republicans.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott canceled his planned appearance at the NRA convention, instead pre-recording a video dismissing calls for gun reform.
“Remember this: There are thousands of laws on the books across the country that limit the possession or use of firearms, laws that have not stopped the insane from carrying out evil deeds against innocent people in peaceful communities,” he said.
Trump in his speech called for a series of measures that largely mirrored what other Republicans had proposed throughout the day: single-entry schools, with armed guards stationed there and exit-only fire escapes. He also said that some teachers should be allowed to carry firearms.
“The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” the former president said, echoing a refrain Texas Sen. Ted Cruz had used onstage less than an hour earlier.
But Trump also nodded to the political reality that gun rights advocates represent a core constituency for Republicans, and for the former president in particular. “You are the backbone of our movement,” he said Friday.
Cruz, meanwhile, blamed a “cultural disease,” including fatherless children and video games, for the mass shootings. He said schools should have a single point of entry defended by multiple armed guards.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has lashed out at supporters of gun safety legislation.
“Let me tell you the truth about enemies of the Second Amendment. They are educated in the ways of Marx and Lenin,” he said.
And NRA executive director Wayne LaPierre said that “if we as a nation were able to legislate evil into the hearts and minds of the criminals who commit these heinous acts, we would have done so long ago.”
In the nation’s bitter division by guns, the story of two Americas was vividly on display in downtown Houston, as protesters waved signs and shouted at NRA members as they entered the George R. Brown Convention Center for their meeting and exhibition.
“NRA, go away,” one woman said over and over, her voice booming through a megaphone in the punishing sun.
“Go away,” another woman yelled as she crossed the street to enter the event.
It’s been three years since the NRA last met for its convention (the last two years were canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic) and thousands of people flocked to Houston to show support for the Second Amendment and go shop in the expansive showroom.
In celebration of its 150th anniversary, the NRA rallied around its meeting in Texas, with a sign outside the convention center promising “14 acres of guns and gear.”
Weapons of all shapes and sizes, from vintage pistols to automatic weapons, were on display, some decorated in camouflage and others with American flags. Hundreds of vendors set up stalls for the weekend, selling ammunition and a variety of gun paraphernalia.
After the Columbine massacre in 1999, the NRA canceled its exhibit during its meeting in nearby Denver. But this year, even though Uvalde is less than 300 miles away, the expo went as planned, except for Daniel Defense, the company that made the gun used in the Robb Elementary School shooting.
“We feel this week is not the right time to promote our products in Texas at the NRA meeting,” Steve Reed, vice president of marketing for Daniel Defense, told CNN.
A popcorn cart, baked potato stand and several tables and chairs were hastily set up in the space originally reserved for Daniel Defense, a Georgia company.
After the shooting, that was the only noticeable alteration in the huge exhibit hall. But prominent country singers Lee Greenwood and Larry Gatlin were among the artists who also canceled appearances.
“I didn’t think it was a good time to go to Houston and have a party with them digging 21 new graves in the valley of my beautiful, beloved Texas,” Gatlin, of the famed Gatlin Brothers, told CNN.
Conversations with various NRA members, some from Texas and others visiting Houston for the weekend event, found respectful expressions of sympathy for the loss of life at Uvalde School. Yet person after person blamed mental health and other issues, not guns, for the horrific shooting.
“It’s not that guns are bad. Guns are tools that can be used for good or bad, just like cars,” said Dr. Elizabeth Tom, who traveled to Texas from Elko, Nevada, for the convention. “Many more people are killed in car accidents, but no one is saying that you have to have a waiting period to buy one or that all cars are bad because some people run other people over with them.”
An NRA member for about three decades, Tom said he didn’t think more gun restrictions would prevent future massacres.
“I know this can be somewhat controversial and I certainly don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings, but if any of those teachers had been armed this could have been over a lot quicker,” Tom told CNN. “We already have gun restrictions. Shooting someone is already illegal, so I’m not really sure what else they want.”
Not all attendees shared that opinion.
Max Shirley, an NRA member from Round Rock, Texas, said he would support “sensible steps” to stop the cycle of school shootings. He said that he believed the age limit for buying an automatic weapon should be raised to 21 and that the size of the magazine for ammunition should be reduced.
“If the person you’re defending against isn’t down or the threat isn’t down after 10 rounds or 10 shots, then you’ve got bigger problems,” Shirley told CNN. “Or you’re a bad shot.”
Outside the convention center, thousands gathered for a protest organized by gun control advocacy groups Moms Demand Action and March for Our Lives, as well as local teachers’ unions, Black Lives Matter chapters and the Democratic Party of the United States. Harris County.
Many there said they were furious that the NRA would continue with its convention after a school shooting in the state just days before.
“I can’t believe they’re still here after Uvalde,” said Anastacia Castro, a 20-year-old college student whose brother was shot to death last year. “Victims of gun violence like me are insulted for being here in the city.”
Milan Narayan, a 17-year-old student who runs a Students Demand Action chapter at his high school where he said an accidental shooting occurred last year, said he understood the NRA convention had been booked well in advance.
“But you can’t be deaf. I mean, the children have died,” she said.
The signs held by protesters showed the raw emotion some of them said they felt after the Uvalde shooting, which took place in a state that has seen a series of mass shootings in recent years, including 26 people killed in a church in Sutherland Springs in 2017 and 22 killed at a Walmart in El Paso in 2019 by a gunman targeting Latinos.
A sign read: “I will vote for you because those 10-year-olds will never come.” Another said: “My little sister is afraid to go to school.”
The focus of those who protested in Houston on Friday, in speeches and interviews, was on guns. Many advocated a ban on the sale of assault rifles.
Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, the Democrat who is challenging Abbott in the November midterms and has called for “red flag” laws and a ban on the sale of AR-15s, sought to extend an olive branch to NRA members.
“To those attending the NRA convention across the street: You are not our enemies. We are not yours. We extend our hand, open and unarmed, in a gesture of peace and fellowship, to welcome you to join us in making sure this no longer happens in this country,” O’Rourke said during a speech at the protest, about a football field. far from the convention center. O’Rourke made headlines the day after the shooting when he confronted Abbott and other officials during a news conference in Uvalde.
“But the time for you to respond and join us is now. We can’t wait any longer for you,” she said. “Those who will be the victims of the next mass shooting unless we act are counting on us right now. So join us now or stay behind.”
This story and headline have been updated with additional details.
Reference-www.cnn.com