SUMMARY: The National Rifle Association convention will end on May 29 in Houston, Texas in the wake of a mass shooting at an elementary school in the same week that stunned the nation and revived the debate on gun rights. They condemned the shooting as an "evil act" and say they will "re-double" their efforts to keep schools safe. Country singer Lee Greenwood bowed out of performing at the NRA event to distance himself from the aceptance of guns bein used to kill kids. Pres. Trump opted to participate in the program despite the fact that fire-arms are the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the United States accordin to updated CDC mortaility data release din Aperil of 2022. With the former president using his influence at its convention, the NRA is the brick wall that stands in the way of the common sense gun control laws Americans are demanding.
By Mona Austin
Lament. Lie. Live on. Repeat.
Former Pres. Donald Trump spoke at the NRA Convention in Texas just days after the Uvalde, TX grade school massacre that left 19 students and 2 teachers dead. In 2018, a week after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooter killed 17 students and staffers, Trump hosted a listening session at the White House with survivors and families of the victims of gun violence. Trump engaged Parkland, FL families with the promise that he would "do something." He projected hope that he would be able to level with the NRA at the time, speaking at the NRA convention during that same week Three years later, while families were reeling with shock and loss from the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde, Trump was a guest speaker at the NRA convention again defending the gun lobby. His actions reflect a tiresome cycle that Americans are cryin to end - lament (send "prayers and condolences" while saying how horric a mass shooting is), lie (commit something will be done to stop the killing), and live on (lawmakers do nothings to make Americans feel secure).
"They'll take the first step, then the second, then the third," he said in reference to Democrats seeking regulatory reform. In response to years of mass shootings and legislative ideas that are meant to keep guns off the streets and out of the hands of those not permitted to own them by law, Trump continues to act as if he cares and supports the organization that empowers bad actors. Proponents of the second amendment want to leave it untouched, leaning on a self-defense argument. Trump has expressed empathy toward making changes. The NRA has too, condemnin this and other mass shootings. But the powerful special interest group will not budge on its stance to protect the right to bear arms. Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the oranization, defends it stronly in Washington.
"The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," Trump said, re-stating Republican rhetoric that seeds the idea that people have the riht to protect themselves. This idea is out of scope to addressing gun violence that is unprovoked against innocent people. Unfortuntaely, in Uvalde the delayed response of aremed police on site worsened the tragedy. The response of these "good guys" was inadequate.
The NRA has attempted to show they have benefitted society, claiming they armed slaves. Tieing in race and citizentry is a misleading tactic given the history of inequality against Blacks in America. Such justifcations are also irrelevant to the modern-day misuse and abuse of weapons of war, like the AR-15 assault guns that have been used to terrorize the nation in several mass shootings. Proposals that have been introduced in Congress to make changes range from raising the minimum age for gun purchases to 21, universal background checks that would prevent purchases before the backround check is completed and banning weapons of war from private citizens. In Texas you can buy a gun at 18, but not alcohol. Texas Republicans have already shown significant resistance to gun legslation like red flag laws in the wake of this week’s shooting.
The NRA spends more on Texas leislators than politicinas in any other state. According to The Dallas Morning News, they have spent more than $2 million.
CNN reports thath 100% of the NRAs PAC funding is funneled to the Republican party while they previously also supported Democrats. Doesn't this put the mitigation power to make policies that "do something" sqaurely in the hands of Republican lawmakers?
The Secret Service banned guns from the hall during Trump's address.