Trump: School massacre no reason to take citizens’ guns
HOUSTON — Former President Donald Trump defended the rights of gun owners in remarks to the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in Houston, three days after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school on the other side of the state.
With protesters shouting outside, Trump called Friday for “drastically” changing the nation’s approach to mental health” and “a topto-bottom security overhaul at schools across this country,” while dismissing calls to disarm gun owners, according to excerpts 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 very best reasons to arm law-abiding citizens,” he said in prepared remarks.
Trump was among the Republican leaders lining up to speak at the event, where the gun rights lobbying group said attendees planned to “reflect on” — and deflect any blame for — the school shooting in Uvalde. Hundreds of protesters angry about gun violence demonstrated outside, including some holding crosses with photos of the shooting victims.
Wayne Lapierre, the group’s chief executive, began the event by saying that “every NRA member and I know every decent American is mourning right now. Twenty-one beautiful lives ruthlessly and indiscriminately extinguished by a criminal monster.”
Still, he said that “restricting the fundamental human rights of law-abiding Americans to defend themselves is not the answer. It never has been.”
The several hundred people in the auditorium stood and bowed their heads in a moment of silence for the victims of the Uvalde school shooting. There were many empty seats.
Among the protesters outside, Democrat Beto O’rourke, who is challenging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in the governor’s race, ticked off a list of previous school shootings and called on those attending the convention to “join us to make sure that this no longer happens in this country.”
“The time to have stopped Uvalde was right after Sandy Hook,” O’rourke said. “The time for us to have stopped Uvalde was right after Parkland. The time for us to have stopped Uvalde was right after Santa Fe High School. The time for us to stop the next mass shooting in this country is right now, right here, today with every single one of us.”
Some scheduled speakers and performers backed out of 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 country’s latest mass shooting. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Friday morning that he had decided not to speak at an event breakfast after “prayerful consideration and discussion with NRA officials.”
The NRA said that people attending the gun show would “reflect on” the Uvalde school shooting, “pray for the victims, recognize our patriotic members and pledge to redouble our commitment to making our schools secure.”
The meeting is the first for the troubled organization since 2019, following a two-year hiatus because of the pandemic. The organization has been trying to regroup following a period of serious legal and financial turmoil that included a failed bankruptcy effort, a class action lawsuit and a fraud investigation by New York’s attorney general. Once among the most powerful political organizations in the country, the NRA has seen its influence wane following a significant drop in political spending.
While President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress have renewed calls for stricter gun laws in the wake of the Uvalde shooting, NRA board members and others attending the conference dismissed talk of banning or limiting access to firearms.
Larry Miller, 56, from Huntington Beach, California, said he had no problem with the NRA meeting taking place so soon after the Uvalde shooting. He called the shooting “very sad and unfortunate” and said the gunman didn’t “have any respect for the people’s freedoms that we have here in this country.”
“We all share these rights, so to be respectful of other people’s rights is to respect other people’s lives, and I think with that kind of mentality, we should be here,” he said.
Samuel Thornburg, 43, a maintenance worker for Southwest Airlines in Houston who was attending the NRA meeting, said, “Guns are not evil. It’s the people that are committing the crime that are evil. Our schools need to be more locked. We need more guards in schools.”
Inside the convention hall, thousands of walked around, stopping at booths that featured displays of handguns, rifles, Ar-style firearms, knives, clothing and gun racks. Outside, police set up metal barriers at a large park where protesters gathered.
“Murderers!” some yelled in Spanish. “Shame on you!” others shouted at attendees.