Trump and other Republicans who spoke at the convention — including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem — acknowledged the Uvalde shooting but also signaled in their speeches that GOP officials are not willing to consider new gun restrictions.
The nation’s schism over guns was on display in Houston. Inside the George R. Brown Convention Center, thousands of attendees browsed through an expansive hall in which vendors offered what an NRA sign referred to as “14 acres of guns and gear.”
Outside, thousands of protesters — including groups that have formed in the wake of other mass shootings — chanted, “NRA, go away,” and “shame, shame,” as they vowed to push for new restrictions on assault rifles and other gun control measures.
Instead, the former President slammed Democrats and others who have called for new gun laws, saying, “There’s always a grotesque effort by some in our society to use the suffering of others to advance their own extreme political agenda.”
Trump also called for a “top-to-bottom security overhaul at schools across our country
That, he said, should include “strong exterior fencing,” metal detectors at school entrances, and classroom doors that should be “hardened” and could be locked from the inside “and closed to intruders from the outside.”
He also called for every school to have “an armed police officer or a resource officer on duty at all times” and for allowing “highly trained teachers to safely and discreetly” carry concealed weapons.
