Uvalde Massacre: Trump lashes out at ‘grotesque effort’ to control guns
Uvalde, US, May 27 (EFE).- Former United States President Donald Trump Friday lashed out at the “grotesque effort” to control arms sales and accused the Democrats of “politicizing” the shooting at a school in Uvalde in Texas that killed 19 children and two teachers.
Rejecting the calls to restrict gun ownership, Trump said gun control policies would have done “absolutely nothing” to prevent the rampage on Tuesday when an 18-year-old gunman with a legally-bought AR-15-style rifle caused the mayhem to mark the deadliest school shooting in the state’s history.
The ex-president was speaking at the annual convention of the National Rifle Association, the powerful pro-gun rights organization in the country.
He called for beefing up the security at schools, including armed guards posted at a single entry and exit point, putting metal detectors, and building doors that can be locked from the inside to prevent “intruder access.”
The former president, applauded several times at the event, began his speech by lamenting the massacre, which he described as a “savage atrocity,” and read the names of the 21 victims with the sound of bells ringing in the background.
Trump placed all the blame on the shooter’s mental health, ignoring the role of weapons in the shooting. “The monster that committed this crime is pure evil, pure cruelty, pure hate.”
He said decent Americans should be allowed the firearms needed to defend against “evil.”
“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 at the event in Houston, Texas.
He made a strong statement in defense of the Second Amendment of the US Constitution that guarantees the “right of the people to keep and bear arms.”
There have been growing calls from reform advocates seeking to change laws to curb the growing gun violence.
Trump lashed out at the Democrats for “using the tears of families” to call for greater gun control.
“Every time a disturbed or demented person commits such a hideous crime, there is always a grotesque effort by some in our society to use the suffering of others to advance their own extreme political agenda,” Trump said.
He rejected the criticism against the “wonderful NRA,” the pro-gun lobby group for the tragedy, saying “the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
President Joe Biden has blamed the gun lobby in the wake of the shootings.
“When Joe Biden blamed the gun lobby, he was talking about Americans like you and along with countless other Democrats this week he was shamefully suggesting that Republicans are somehow OK with letting school shootings happen — they’re not OK with it,” Trump said.
As Trump spoke, thousands of people gathered outside the Houston Convention Center to protest against the NRA’s annual conference, which took place despite calls to cancel it after the massacre.
Texas Governor, Republican Greg Abbott, did not attend the event. EFE
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