The NRA Institute for Legislative Action will be hosting its annual leader’s forum Friday at the convention. NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre and NRA-ILA executive director Jason Ouimet will host the forum, according to the event’s website. Attendees can generally carry firearms during the convention in accordance with Texas law, according to the annual meeting’s website.
However, guns won’t be allowed during the event with Mr Trump due to Secret Service restrictions, according to the website. “Days after the shooting in Uvalde, the NRA will be in Texas for its annual meeting. Guns won’t be allowed in spaces where Donald Trump and NRA executives are speaking because someone might try to kill them,” tweeted Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, a group that supports stronger gun laws.
Trump, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and other GOP politicians are set to attend the NRA Institute for Legislative Action’s “Leadership Forum” in Houston, roughly a 4 1/2-hour drive from the site of Tuesday’s gun massacre in Uvalde. Former President Donald Trump will speak at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Texas after a gunman killed 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in the state.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and other GOP politicians are also set to attend the NRA’s “Leadership Forum” in Houston. Trump wrote on social media Wednesday that he will keep his “longtime commitment to speak in Texas at the NRA Convention,” because the U.S. needs “real solutions and real leadership at this moment, not politicians and partisanship. In the meantime, we all continue to pray for the victims, their families, and for our entire nation — we are all in this together!” Trump’s post said.
The influential group, which has fought many federal efforts to tighten gun-safety laws, has faced fresh criticism in the last two weeks after the mass shooting at a grocery store in a predominantly Black neighbourhood in Buffalo, New York and at the Robb Elementary School in Texas.
Cruz on Tuesday criticized Democrats and media figures “whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. That doesn’t work. It’s not effective,” Cruz said. Trump’s appearance at the NRA’s annual event on Friday marks his sixth time speaking there.
Trump “delivered on his promises by appointing judges who respect and value the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and in doing so helped ensure the freedom of generations of Americans,” NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre said in a statement.
“Gov. Abbott, if you have any decency, you will immediately withdraw from this weekend’s NRA convention and urge them to hold it anywhere but Texas,” Abbott’s gubernatorial election rival Beto O’Rourke tweeted on Wednesday.
The event comes as Tuesday’s shooting has reignited a political debate about gun reform and sparked outrage across the country over elected leaders’ failure to enact stricter gun laws. While Democrats have pleaded with their Republican colleagues to negotiate with them on passing new restrictions, many conservatives immediately pushed back on gun reform being the answer to curbing mass shootings.
“As we gather in Houston, we will reflect on these events, pray for the victims, recognize our patriotic members and pledge to redouble our commitment to making our schools secure,” the NRA said in a recently released statement.
Salvador Ramos- The Gunman Who Killed 19 Kids at Texas Elementary School
An 18-year-old boy named Salvador Ramos opened fire in an elementary school in Uvalde. At least 19 children and two adults were dead after a teen-aged gunman wearing body armour shot his grandmother before opening fire at an elementary school on Tuesday shortly after 11:30 a.m. in the latest episode of mass gun violence to terrorize the country.
The 18-year-old boy was later shot and killed by law enforcement. After Ramos shot his grandmother at her home, local law enforcement got a call about a car crash involving an armed man close to the school. “Just a complete tragedy. An evil person going into the school and killing children for no reason whatsoever,” said Olivarez. “He was shooting everybody,” the official said.
“As soon as he made entry into the school, he started shooting children, teachers, whoever was in his way, he was shooting everybody,” said the Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Lt. Chris Olivarez. Ramos, who was armed with a handgun and possibly a rifle, was wearing body armour.
A parent told media at the scene that the shooter opened fire in a fourth-grade classroom near the entrance, sending children scrambling out of windows. Many hid in a nearby funeral home while the shooter carried out the carnage. Ramos also posted pictures of his firearms on his Instagram page.
Of the weapons posted, one appeared to be a Daniel Defense AR-15 with a high-capacity magazine. The Instagram page was shortly deleted after Ramos was publicly identified. Tuesday’s massacre was the deadliest school shooting in Texas history. The shooter who was an 18-year-old had been wielding both a handgun and a rifle and had worn protective gear.
