America’s premier gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, is holding its annual convention in Houston on Friday. Shaken by a controversy following the killing of 19 schoolchildren in Uvalde, politicians and country music stars have canceled their visit.
The long-planned National Rifle Association (NRA) convention comes just following an 18-year-old opened fire at Robb Primary School in Uvalde on Tuesday, killing 19 children and two female teachers, and plunging once once more America in the nightmare of school shootings.
>> Read regarding it: After the shooting of the primary school of Uvalde, the population is in shock
If former President Donald Trump will be present at this high mass of the NRA, the Republican Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has planned to stop going there. Instead, he will give a press conference in Uvalde on Friday followingnoon.
Absent politicians, country stars and arms manufacturers
Greg Abott, a great defender of the right to own a firearm and candidate for re-election this year, will still speak to members of the NRA, in a pre-recorded video, said one of his spokespersons at the Dallas Morning News newspaper.
His deputy, Dan Patrick, will also not show up to avoid “adding more pain to the families,” he said in a statement.
A sign of discomfort, several country stars have also chosen not to come. Among them, singer Don McLean, known for his song “American Pie”, who considered it would be “disrespectful” for him to perform there.
Artist Lee Greenwood, whose patriotic hit “God Bless the USA” punctuates Donald Trump’s meetings, also preferred to cancel his concert. Another notable absentee was the maker of the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle used by the shooter.
Weapons prohibited during the event
But the influential conservative state senator, Ted Cruz, will be present, as will Donald Trump, who received tens of millions of dollars from the NRA during his two presidential campaigns.
The NRA, which claims 5 million members, has also specified that because of the speech of the former head of state and to ensure his safety, firearms would be prohibited in the room.
According to the powerful lobby, participants in the big meeting will “reflect” on what happened in Uvalde, and “pray for the victims”. The NRA, attacked by Joe Biden, had cleared itself of all responsibility for the killing, denouncing “the act of an isolated and disturbed criminal”.
The police criticized
Outside the building, opponents have planned to demonstrate. Democrat Beto O’Rourke, who will face Greg Abbott in the gubernatorial election in November, will be there.
Gun control activists protest outside the building where the NRA convention is being held. [Cécile Clocheret – AFP]
In an unusual scene, a sign of growing tension over the issue of weapons, he interrupted the governor on Wednesday, in the middle of a press conference, accusing him of being responsible for the tragedy.
The way the police handled the situation was also criticized. According to a video and numerous testimonies, parents waited outside the school without the police, who were present, intervening, while the shooter, Salvador Ramos, was in the classroom.
Border Police units entered regarding an hour following the teenager entered the building and killed him. Contrary to what had been said, Salvador Ramos, who shot his grandmother before going to school, did not face any police before entering.
A debate on the regulation of weapons revived
The shooting, described in the American press as the “new Sandy Hook”, in reference to the appalling massacre at a Connecticut elementary school in 2012, has awakened the traumas of America.
The faces of the very young victims, aged 11, 10 and 9, broadcast repeatedly on television, and the testimonies of their collapsed relatives have moved the country, relaunching a wave of calls for better regulation of firearms.
Compulsory passage following each major shooting, this movement is unlikely to lead to action, given the lack of hope of Congress adopting an ambitious national law on the issue.
President Joe Biden will travel to Uvalde on Sunday with his wife Jill Biden, to “share the mourning” of the inhabitants of this small town upset by one of the worst massacres by firearm in recent years in the country.
afp/aps
