Trump, Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz and others are set to speak at the NRA’s annual meeting in Houston, which comes three days after the Uvalde school shooting.
Two other Texas Republicans, Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Dan Crenshaw, told CNBC earlier this week that they had backed out of the conference prior to the Uvalde shooting. Cornyn had an"unexpected change in his schedule" and"has to be in D.
C. for personal reasons on Friday," Cornyn spokeswoman Natalie Yezbick said in an email Wednesday. Justin Discigil, Crenshaw's chief of staff, said that the congressman is unable to make it back from Kyiv, Ukraine, in time to attend the event. Noem will speak at the forum, a spokesman for the governor confirmed to CNBC. North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is also scheduled to speak at the event. Noem, in a promotional video shared on the NRA's social media over the weekend, paraphrased a quote from Charlton Heston, the late actor and former NRA leader:"Joe Biden, I'll give you my gun when you pry it from my cold dead hands."on Sunday with first lady Jill Biden to"grieve with the community," the White House said.In a statement Wednesday, the NRAto the victims and families affected by the"horrific and evil crime." The group said it would"pledge to redouble our commitment to making our schools secure." The most powerful gun-rights organization in the country, the NRA has opposed most efforts to restrict firearm access — including by expanding background checks on gun purchases, a plan that most Democrats and gun-control activists support. Multiple bills to strengthen background checksBipartisan talks on potential gun legislation — which appear to focus on more stringent background checks and so-called red flag laws — restarted in the Senate this week. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., gave Cornyn the green light to negotiate with Democrats on proposals that the Texas senator believes would have helped prevent the shooting in his state. The NRA and some Republican lawmakers have instead suggested the U.S should strengthen security in public spaces and focus on mental health, among other proposals to address gun violence without restricting gun ownership. Cruz, for instance, this week floated the idea that schools buildings should haveTheir critics say those arguments ignore the root of the issue. They often point out that mass shootings areThose critics have gone on the offensive after the massacre in Uvalde, which came 10 days after an 18-year-old white manin a racially motivated attack at a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York. Beto O'Rourke, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Texas, crashed Abbott's press conference Wednesday and berated the governor over his handling of the mass shooting. After O'Rourke was escorted from the room, Abbott called for Americans"to not focus on ourselves and our agendas" but instead focus on healing. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Thursday morning called Abbott"an absolute fraud" for those"empty platitudes," while noting that the governor was set to speak at the NRA conference two days later.that his city could not cancel the NRA convention, which is scheduled to last the whole weekend, because it would"leave the city subject to a number of legal issues." "The greater question is why are elected officials speaking there, and what message does that send," Turner said."You can't pray and send condolences on one day and go and champion guns on the next."
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