Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will still speak Friday at a National Rifle Association convention in Houston despite the Tuesday massacre of 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school.
“America needs real solutions and real leadership in this moment, not politicians and partisanship. That’s why I will keep my longtime commitment to speak in Texas at the NRA Convention and deliver an important address to America,” Trump said in a statement.
“In the meantime, we all continue to pray for the victims, their families, and for our entire nation — we are all in this together!”
Authorities say Salvador Ramos, 18, shot his grandmother Tuesday before arriving at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, about 80 miles west of San Antonio, with two AR-15-style semi-automatic rifles that he legally purchased after turning 18.
Guns reportedly are banned from Trump’s NRA speech, which also follows the murder of 10 people at a Buffalo grocery store on May 14. The 18-year-old suspect in that crime, Payton Gendron, also used a legally purchased AR-15-style rifle after posting online a white supremacist manifesto.
President Biden on Tuesday night called on Congress to pass new gun control laws and blasted the “gun lobby” for marketing what he called assault weapons. AR-15-style rifles were banned from 1994 to 2004 under the federal assault weapons ban.
But successful federal legislation is unlikely because of Senate rules that require 60 votes for most bills. Democrats control just 50 seats and centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on Tuesday evening repeated that he opposes changing the 60-vote threshold.
“The filibuster is the only thing that prevents us from total insanity,” Manchin told reporters.
It’s unclear what Trump intends to say at the NRA convention, but as president, he upset gun rights advocates in 2018 by expressing a willingness to enact reforms in response to the murder of 17 people at a Parkland, Fla., high school by 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, who used a legally purchased AR-15-style rifle.
Trump endorsed raising the age limit from 18 to 21 to buy AR-15 rifles, as well as background checks for private gun sales and reforms to let police “take the guns first, go through due process second” to reduce the risk posed by mentally ill people.
“I like taking the guns early,” Trump said at the time. “Like, in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida. He had a lot of firearms; they saw everything. To go to court would have taken a long time. You could do exactly what you’re saying, but take the guns first, go through due process second.”
Later that year, the Trump administration banned “bump stocks” that increase the firing rate of semi-automatic rifles in response to that device’s role in the murder of 60 people at a Las Vegas concert in 2017.
Democrats in Congress rallied to pass new gun laws in response to the Uvalde school schooling.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) noted Wednesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for ATF director nominee Steven Dettelbach that she sponsors legislation to raise the age limit for AR-15s. She noted that 18- to 21-year-old adults cannot legally buy a beer.
Some Senate Democrats blasted the inaction of Congress. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), whose wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, survived a 2011 mass shooting that killed six people, said Wednesday, “It’s f—ing nuts to do nothing about this.” Gifford was shot by 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner with a legally purchased Glock semi-automatic handgun.
But Republicans expressed wariness of new limits on gun ownership.
“I’m willing to say that I’m very sorry it happened. But guns are not the problem, OK? People are the problem,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) told reporters. “That’s where it starts. And we’ve had guns forever. And we’re gonna continue to have guns.”
Congress most recently took a serious attempt at gun control legislation in 2013 after the 2012 massacre of 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School by Adam Lanza, 20, who used his mother’s legally purchased guns, including an AR-15-style rifle.
A compromise proposal by Manchin and Sen. Patrick Toomey (R-Pa.) would have required federal background checks for most private gun transfers, with a carveout for gifting among family and friends, but it failed with 54 senators in favor — six short of the 60-vote threshold.