Trump Defends Second Amendment in Speech to NRA Days After Texas Shooting | Politics | ... - 0 views
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With the nation in fresh mourning and horror over the shooting deaths of 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school and the delayed response of law enforcement, many Texas politicians and performers skipped the National Rifle Association convention, which began Friday in Houston.That was not the choice of former President Donald Trump, who headlined the NRA's opening day meeting and chided those who did not "show up" at the event. He started with an homage to the victims, reading each name as a gong resounded offstage. He then segued into a laundry list of policies to control gun violence – some of which have been undermined as details of Tuesday's mass shooting have been revealed.
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"We witnessed a now familiar parade of cynical politicians seeking to exploit the tears of sobbing families to increase their own power and take away our constitutional rights," Trump said, slamming Democratic lawmakers who have appealed for universal background checks or more restrictive gun laws.
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Clearly reveling in the warm reception he got from the NRA members – none of whom was allowed to carry guns into the event, since Trump is protected by the Secret Service – Trump pledged that the GOP would be back in control of Congress after this year's elections and back in the "beautiful" White House after the 2024 contest.As the NRA held its convention, officials 275 miles away in Uvalde struggled to explain why law enforcement failed to enter Robb Elementary School even as children lay dying and calling 911 with pleas for help.
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And it undercut the first-day assessment by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who praised law enforcement for their "quick response" to the attack, which he said saved lives.
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Reports since then reveal a grisly, wrenching scene, where terrified students waited for help as the shooter, armed with an assault rifle, continued his rampage. One student told of laying on top of a classmate, smearing her blood on her so both would appear dead, to save them both. The girl who was injured died at the hospital from her injuries, raising questions about whether she would have survived if the reaction had been quicker.Abbott, a vociferous gun rights proponent who last year signed a law allowing people to own guns without a license or training, was originally scheduled to speak at the NRA convention. Thursday night, his office said the governor would instead head to Uvalde, supplying a video speech to show at the NRA meeting.
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Well-known sports figures decried the gun violence and what they called inaction by elected officials to address it. During Thursday evening's baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays, both teams abandoned their usual game-update tweets for a series of tweets on gun violence."The devastating events that took place in Uvalde, Buffalo and countless other communities across our nation are tragedies that are intolerable," the Yankees said on the team's official Twitter account, referring to the racist-motivated murder of 10 Black shoppers in Buffalo on May 16.