Republican Senator Ted Cruz experienced some turbulent moments after his participation in the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association (NRA, for its acronym in English), held after Tuesday’s massacre at Robb Elementary School, which left 21 dead (19 children and two teachers), in Uvalde, Texas.
This Friday, after participating with former President Donald Trump in the NRA meeting that took place at the convention center in Houston, Texas, the same state where the massacre occurred, the US senator was approached by a young man with the intention of taking a selfie. But what the legislator did not expect was a confrontation with an activist from the group Indivisible Houston, an organization that presents itself as progressive and promotes “positive political change.”
The truth is that this young man, identified as Benjamín Hernández, is a member of the board of directors of this group, and after embracing the senator he went on to question him.
“Nineteen children died!”Hernandez told Cruz, as he demanded that he support background checks and other reforms. Quickly, the security personnel accompanying the senator were put on alert and as they took him away from the place, the activist even said: “That’s in your hands!”
The scene that took place in a restaurant called Uptown Sushi, according to Indivisible Houston, went viral on social networks.
Speaking to The Washington Post, Hernandez said he approached Cruz because he hoped to get the senator’s commitment to pass a bill in favor of background checks on gun sales, which are unlikely to pass in the Senate.
“I wanted you to give me an answer on something as simple and basic as the Background CheckHernandez, 39, said. “But it was like he was deflecting the responsibility of being a United States senator,” he added.
The protest ended up being a kind of escrache and the man was escorted by the senator’s security, who after the hot flash returned to his table.
“Challenge them every time. Don’t stop until they do something” was Hernández’s post to spread his campaign on social networks.
In his presentation Indivisible Houston “advocates for the government of, by and for the people through education, commitment and resistance. We build bridges in Houston to fight for a more equitable and progressive world, through political pressure” .
Ted Cruz in his presentation at the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association. Photo: AP
Why do massacres happen only in America?
Strictly speaking, Ted Cruz not only had this incident after his participation in the National Rifle Association with Donald Trump, since days before, the senator left an interview with Sky News after being asked if “this is the time to reform gun laws.
“Why is this only happening in America?“Asked Mark Stone, a journalist for the British chain, to break the legislator’s patience.
But it all started when, when asked about the shooting in Texas, he was asked if it was time to reform the regulations about guns in America.
At that moment, the political leader tried to avoid the subject and the journalist insisted again and again until Cruz, visibly angry, replied: “Stop being a propagandist.”
At the NRA’s annual convention, Cruz criticized the massacre at Robb Elementary School as “evil” while speaking out against gun control. “Gun bans don’t work. Look at Chicago. If they worked, Chicago wouldn’t be the murder hell it’s been for far too long.”
Before a crowd, Cruz charged against those who maintain that firearms are “the root of the problem.” gives rise to unspeakable acts of evil,” he added.
During the same meeting, Donald Trump rejected stricter controls on access to firearms after the massacre in a Texas school and said that decent citizens should be able to arm themselves to defend themselves from “evil”.
Flowers and candles were placed around crosses at a memorial set up in front of Robb Elementary School to honor the victims who died in the shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Photo: AP
A massacre that reignites the debate on weapons
“It’s time to die,” Salvador Ramos said as he entered the classroom at Robb Elementary School in Texas, where seconds later he began the shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers. The massacre was the deadliest at a school since the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre that left 28 dead, and it reignited the gun debate in the United States.
The discussion always ends with the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which enshrines the right of Americans to own guns, and narrow majorities in Congress.
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, has called for confronting the gun lobby, and the Democrats want to promote background check laws for gun buyers, but for the Republicans the problem is mental health and safety in schools.
President Joe Biden speaks about the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, from the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Photo: AP
Trump, for example, said that in no way can “the wonderful NRA” be blamed for these crimes. During the convention, the former president read the names of the 21 victims with the sound of bells ringing in the background, and pointed directly at the attacker: “the monster that committed this crime is pure evil, pure cruelty, pure hate.”
“Every time a disturbed or insane person commits such a horrible crime, there is always a grotesque effort on the part of some to use the suffering to promote their extremist political agenda,” criticized the former president before an auditorium where, paradoxically, it was prohibited to access with weapons.
The meeting was held with thousands of people who gathered outside the gates of the Houston Convention Center to protest against the holding of the NRA conference, which kept the event going despite numerous calls to cancel it after the massacre. .
With information from agencies
GRB