Former President Trump called for strengthened school security mechanisms at the National Weapons Association’s annual meeting in Houston, Texas on Friday – mechanisms held by Rob Elementary School in Uwalde, the site of a mass shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers. early this week.
Why it matters: The Uwalde tragedy and the massacre in Buffalo, New York, which left 10 dead on May 14, intensified the debate on gun control legislation and renewed control over arms protection organizations such as the NRA, arms manufacturers and lawmakers. who maintain close ties with the arms lobby.
- Trump decided on Wednesday to keep his “long-standing commitment” to Congress despite the shooting.
- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (right) canceled his personal presence at the event, but still made “pre-recorded videos,” while Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (right) canceled his speech at a breakfast hosted by the NRA on Friday.
What they say: Trump said it was time to “harden” schools across the nation, calling specifically for lockable doors and hiring security.
- “What we need now is a major overhaul of security from top to bottom in schools across our country,” Trump said.
- “Each building must have one entry point. There must be strong outdoor fences, metal detectors and the use of new technologies to ensure that unauthorized people can never enter the school with weapons. “
- “In addition, classroom doors must be hardened so that they can be locked from the inside and closed to intruders from the outside. And above all, from that day forward, every school in America must have a police officer or an armed service officer on duty at all times. “
- The former president also called for the arming of teachers and the cessation of school-free guns.
- “Surely we can all agree that our school should not be the softest target. “Our schools must be the single hardest goal in our country,” Trump said.
Rob Elementary School had both lockable doors and a hired security guard during the shooting.
- It was not known if the school used metal detectors, although Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District had its own police, a fence around all its schools, threat assessment teams on each campus, and used threat reporting software and social media monitoring software during of attack, reports NBC News.
Stephen McCrow, director of the Texas Public Safety Department, said Friday that the school’s officer was not on campus when the shooting was first reported near the school, but immediately went to the scene.
- After arriving at the scene, the security guard passed the shooter and instead confronted a teacher, McCrow said.
- McCrow said the shooter gained access to the school through a door that had previously been opened by a teacher.
- The classrooms where the shooter entered and shot the students and teachers also had doors that lock from the inside.
- Tactical border patrol agents, who broke through the door to kill the suspect after he was at school for about 80 minutes, did so after receiving keys from a porter to unlock one of the doors, McCrow said.
The general picture: The convention, which began on Friday and lasts until Sunday, is the first of the NRA since 2019 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- Leaders and members of the country’s two largest teachers’ unions traveled to Houston on Friday to protest the NRA convention and advocate for new weapons safety legislation.
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