Trump zeroes in on school security, mental health in campaign-style NRA speech
Trump zeroes in on school security, mental health in campaign-style NRA speech just days after massacre in Uvalde, Texas.
Undeterred by Tuesday's school shooting a few hundred miles away, former President Donald Trump headlined the National Rifle Association's annual legislative conference in Houston on Friday and called for "a top-to-bottom security overhaul at schools across this country" in addition to "drastically" changing the U.S. approach to mental health.
It was a welcome message for the embattled NRA, which has been plagued by scandal and embroiled in litigation. Had Trump skipped the event, he would have been in good company: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pulled out of a planned appearance in favor of a return visit to Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers in an elementary school Tuesday. Abbott provided pre-recorded remarks to the conference, which Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas also backed out of, citing scheduling conflicts.
“Unlike some, I didn’t disappoint you by not showing up,” Trump said at the start of his remarks.
Trump described the Uvalde shooting as "a savage and barbaric atrocity" and called for a moment of silence as he read the names of the 21 victims. The former president said those killed "are now with God in heaven" while the shooter "will be eternally damned to burn in the fires of hell."
Trump then laid into President Joe Biden for urging Congress to take up gun safety legislation, saying Biden's criticism of the gun lobby was really directed at gun owners across the country.
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