Former President Donald Trump delivered one of the key speeches at the annual meeting of the NRA, the US firearms industry body, this Friday (27). He defended the right of Americans to have weapons and stressed that the best way to prevent new massacres, like the one that took place in Uvalde this week, is to reinforce mental health care and barriers in schools.
However, the audience that went to see Trump live had to leave their weapons outside the hall where he spoke. The determination was made by the Secret Service, which protects the former president and prevents the entry of weapons, including knives, into events where former presidents participate. Thus, metal detectors were placed at the entrance to the site.
The former president called for a minute of silence for the children killed in Uvalde and read the names of the victims. He called the gunman an “out-of-control lunatic” and criticized politicians and activists calling for changes to gun access.
“We have witnessed a familiar parade of cynical politicians seeking to exploit the tears of families to increase their own power and seize our constitutional rights. Every time a deranged person commits a heinous crime, there is a grotesque effort by some in our society to advance their own agenda. extreme policy,” Trump said.
For him, the way out to prevent new massacres is for families and educators to reinforce attention to detecting people close to them with emotional problems. “We have to radically change our approach to mental health. Make it easier to confine the violent and the mentally challenged in institutions. And address the problem of broken families, because no law can heal the effects of a broken home. There is no substitute for a mother. strong and a great father.”
The former president also defended that schools reinforce security, with measures such as having only one entrance and exit door, with metal detectors, to prevent the entry of armed people.
The NRA event is held in Houston, Texas, about 450 km from Uvalde, where an 18-year-old gunman broke into a school and killed 19 elementary school children on Tuesday. The killer used a rifle he had legally purchased, days after coming of age, and was killed by the police.
The organisation, which held the meeting despite calls for a postponement, called the attack an “act of an isolated and troubled criminal”. Texas Governor Republican Greg Abbott was supposed to attend the event, but withdrew and is expected to send a video speech.
Other Republicans, such as Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota, and Ted Cruz, senator from Texas, also gave impassioned speeches in defense of guns. They point out that cities where there are more restrictions, like Chicago, register more cases of violence than in places with free access.
“To quote former President Ronald Reagan, we must reject the idea that every time a law is broken, society is blamed rather than whoever broke it,” said Wayne LaPierre, president of the NRA, in another speech.
The NRA (National Rifle Association) is the leading gun defense body in the US, and it lobbies politicians against regulations on access to guns. The association, however, is going through a delicate moment, after infighting in its leadership and a lawsuit that accuses its directors of embezzling resources.
The entity’s annual meeting, which has not been held since 2019, brings together speeches by politicians and celebrities, sales stands and the exhibition of new products. Access is free to the institution’s members, whose annual fee starts at US$ 35.
Outside, protesters protested for more restraint measures to prevent or hinder access to heavy weapons. Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic candidate for governor of Texas in the November elections, addressed the activists. “The time to stop Uvalde was right after Sandy Hook,” he said, citing another massacre of children at an American school in 2012. “The time to stop the next mass shooting in this country is here and now. “
Possession of weapons is guaranteed by the Constitution, but many experts, activists and politicians advocate greater access control, such as measures to prevent people with psychological problems or a history of violence from having access to high-caliber weapons. However, politicians linked to the Republican Party tend to bar measures in this regard, as they see the right to arm themselves as a symbol of freedom to be preserved.​
