Trump backs NRA after school shooting
Former US president backs NRA in rejecting stricter firearms regulations after Texas school shooting
Donald Trump last night accused gun control supporters of trying to “exploit the tears of sobbing families” during a public appearance after the Uvalde school shooting. The former US president told a National Rifle Association convention in Houston, Texas that there had been “a grotesque effort” to “shift blame away from the villains who commit acts of mass violence” onto “law-abiding citizens who belong to organisations, such as our wonderful NRA”.
DONALD TRUMP last night accused gun control supporters of trying to “exploit the tears of sobbing families” during a public appearance after the Uvalde school shooting.
The former US president was speaking at the National Rifle Association (NRA) convention in Houston, Texas, just days after 19 children and two adults were shot dead around 300 miles away at Robb Elementary School.
The attack has given new impetus to calls for stricter firearms regulation, which Mr Trump has sought to portray as an act of political opportunism.
After holding a moment of silence for the “beautiful people” killed by what he described as an “out of control lunatic”, Mr Trump said: “Sadly, before the sun had even set on the horrible day of tragedy, 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.
“Every time a disturbed or demented person commits such a hideous crime, there’s always a grotesque effort by some in our society to use the suffering of others to advance their own extreme political agenda.
“Even more repulsive is their rush to shift blame away from the villains who commit acts of mass violence and to place that blame onto the shoulders of millions of peaceful, law-abiding citizens who belong to organisations, such as our wonderful NRA.”
Mr Trump then claimed the way to tackle the “contagion of school shootings” was to “drastically change our approach to mental health”.
He said: “There are always so many warning signs; almost all of these disfigured minds share the same profile.”
It came as Texas police admitted they made the wrong decision not to confront the Uvalde school gunman sooner as it emerged that children trapped inside were calling 911 to beg for help for almost an hour. Law enforcement officials were accused of failing to follow standard procedure as about 20 officers waited in a hallway for up to an hour while the massacre unfolded – and turned away specially equipped agents who arrived to help.
After two days of contradictory accounts from police, a law enforcement official said in a press conference that an armed school officer did not in fact encounter or exchange fire with the attacker before he entered the school, as previously claimed.
Police who arrived at the school retreated when Salvador Ramos shot at them, state authorities said. Even when specially equipped federal border agents arrived at the scene, local police
‘We witness a now familiar parade of cynical politicians seeking to exploit the tears of sobbing families ‘
would not allow them to go in, according to The New York Times.
Meanwhile, at least two children under assault called 911 several times, with one telling police in a whisper that there were multiple dead and that there were still “eight to nine” students alive.
An hour elapsed before a tactical unit led by border agents went into a classroom and killed the gunman.
Videos from the minutes after the shooter entered the building show frantic parents being held back by police. Some were handcuffed.
Ramos arrived at the school in Uvalde at 11.33am and fired more than 100 rounds by the time seven police officers entered two minutes later. They were met with gunfire and receded. Col Steven Mccraw, of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said that the on-scene commander believed the attacker had stopped shooting and barricaded himself inside. With the benefit of hindsight, he said, it was clear there were still students inside and in danger.
“Of course it was not the right decision, it was the wrong decision, period,” Col Mccraw told reporters.
The initial response appears to have diverged from guidance widely implemented since the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, which says officers should pursue shooters without waiting for specialised back-up.
The Texas Police Chiefs Association’s policy manual says “the first two to five responding officers should form a single team and enter the structure”. Police also revealed that Ramos marched into the school unobstructed through a door that had been propped open by a teacher.
Yesterday, horrifying details emerged from survivors. One schoolgirl recalled that Ramos “backed the teacher into the classroom… looked her right in the eye, and said ‘Goodnight’, and then shot her and killed her”.
Miah Cerrillo, 11, said she smeared the blood of a classmate over her and pretended to be dead in case the shooter reentered her classroom.
In a video, parents at the rear of the school building can be seen complaining that police were doing nothing as the country’s worst school shooting in a decade unfolded.