Trump says US school shooting not disarming law-abiding citizens
Donald Trump said that the recent US school shooting was a reason to arm law-abiding citizens, not disarming them.
The former US president was a guest speaker at the National Rifle Association NRA, which held its annual convention in Houston on Friday.
Three days after 19 children and two adults were shot dead at a school in Uvalde, the event put in stark relief America's deep divisions on gun control.
As demonstrations swelled in Houston, attendees included Trump, who deny that guns were the problem and put the emphasis on school safety and mental health.
He said that the existence of evil in our world is not a reason to disarm law-abiding citizens. The existence of evil is one of the best reasons to arm law-abiding citizens. Trump accused the Democrats of trying to exploit the tragedy and demonise gun owners.
He said every time a disturbed or demented person commits a hideous crime, there is a grotesque effort by some in our society to advance their own extreme political agenda. Trump said every school building should have a single point of entry, strong exterior fencing, metal detectors and hardened classroom doors, and every school should have a police officer or armed guard on duty at all times, and that every school should have a single point of entry.
He also called for teachers to be able to carry concealed weapons in the classroom.
He and other speakers ignored the security upgrades that were already in place at the elementary school and did not stop the gunman who entered the building through a backdoor that had been propped open.
A district safety plan says that the schools in Uvalde have a wide range of safety measures in place. The plan shows that the district had four police officers and four support counsellors and appears to have been dated from the 2019 -- 20 school year. It also had software to monitor social media for threats and software to screen school visitors.
After a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the meeting was the first for the troubled organisation since 2019. After a long period of legal and financial turmoil, the organisation has tried to regroup, including a failed bankruptcy attempt, a class-action lawsuit and a fraud investigation by New York s attorney general.
When Joe Biden blamed the gun lobby for American politics, Trump said, referring to the president's emotional plea in a national address asking, When in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?