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Former President Donald Trump will head a forum at the National Shooting Association’s annual meeting in Houston this Friday, about a four-hour drive from where a shooting at a primary school in Uwalde, Texas, killed at least 19 children and two teachers on Tuesday. .
Trump said on Wednesday that he would keep his appearance, in a post on his platform Truth Social.
The Memorial Day weekend event is the largest meeting of the weapons lobby of the year since the cancellation due to the coronavirus pandemic. It is expected to take place over three days and “showcase more than 14 acres of the latest weapons and equipment”, according to the official website.
“The National Arms Association is pleased to announce that former President Donald Trump will head a stellar cast of political heavyweights at the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action,” the body said in a statement in May.
The forum is also expected to include Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, South Dakota Gov. Christie L. Noem and North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, all Republicans. The next night, American Pie singer Don McLean is due out.
Texas Sen. John Cornin (R) was also due to speak, but withdrew before the shooting for personal reasons requiring him to be in Washington on Friday, a spokesman said. Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) has also given up on his planned trip to Ukraine, an aide said.
Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat who is challenging Abbott for governor, has called on him to step down from the conference. Abbott’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Governor Abbott, if you have any decency, you will immediately withdraw from the NRA Congress this weekend and urge them to hold it everywhere except Texas.
– Beto O’Rourke (@BetoORourke) May 25, 2022
Noah’s spokesman said she was still planning to attend.
Virginia Lieutenant-Governor Winsom Earl-Sears (R), a former Marine who stormed an assault rifle on his dress in a memorable advertising campaign last year, is scheduled to head to lunch at the NRA Women’s Leadership Forum on Friday as part of the Houston event. Earl-Sears and her spokeswoman did not immediately respond to Wednesday’s inquiries as to whether she planned to continue after the school shooting.
The NRA forum comes as the shooting rekindles the gun control debate in Washington. President Biden has called on the United States to “stand up to the arms lobby” after the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade, and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.) moved on Tuesday night to set up two Chambers. control of the weapon in the calendar of the chamber.
The NRA could not be reached immediately for comment early Wednesday on whether the event will take place.
Biden expresses grief and anger at the shooting: “I’m tired of it and I’m tired of it.”
Authorities say suspected shooter Salvador Ramos, 18, was wearing a bulletproof vest and rifle when he opened fire in a fourth-grade classroom around 11:32 a.m. on the third to final day of the school year – sending children fleeing for life you are. The attacker was later killed by police.
Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) Went viral online after speaking in the Senate on Tuesday night, urging his colleagues to put politics aside and work together to stop the mass shootings. Murphy was at the House in 2012 when a shooting occurred in his neighborhood, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, where 20 children and six adults were killed.
“Why are we here, if not, to try to make sure that fewer schools and fewer communities go through what Sandy Hook went through, what Uwalde is going through,” he said. “I’m here on this floor to beg to literally fall on my hands and knees and ask my colleagues: Find your way forward here.”
The shooting in Texas is also coming, as the nation is still hesitant about a mass shooting earlier this month in Buffalo, where a gunman killed 10 people in a racist attack on a grocery store.
Cruz tweeted on Tuesday that he was “fervently praying for children and families in the horrific shooting in Uwalde.”
His announcement drew criticism from the Republican Republic of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.), who mentioned his presence at the NRA event and said “faith without works is dead”.
Aren’t you planning to head to the NRA in three days – no less in Houston?
You can do more than pray. Faith without works is dead. https://t.co/NMX64KljhL
– Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 24, 2022
The NRA event is scheduled to take place at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on Friday and has been declared a “celebration of American freedom!”
“It is truly an honor for President Trump to address NRA members for the sixth time at our 2022 NRA-ILA Leadership Forum in Houston,” NRA Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer Wayne Lapierre said in a statement in May.
He said Trump had “helped ensure the freedom of generations of Americans” by appointing judges who “respect and value the Constitution and Bill of Rights” and thanked the former president for his “support for our right to hold and bear arms.” .
Trump has embraced the gun lobby, although after the 2018 Parkland High School shooting, he briefly expressed support for background checks on gun purchases and greater police powers to seize weapons from people with mental disorders. He faced considerable resistance from the NRA and Republicans and soon gave up on the ideas. His administration also banned the use of butts, a device that facilitates faster shooting with a semi-automatic rifle.
The NRA is fighting a lawsuit from the New York Attorney General, accusing the group’s leaders of embezzling millions of dollars. The NRA, established in 1871, has more than 5 million members.
Laura Wozella contributed to this report.
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