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'Enough Is Enough!': Thousands Protest Outside NRA Convention in Texas
"I'm just tired of the NRA subordinating children's rights for gun rights," said one gun lobby opponent just three days after the school massacre in Uvalde.
May 27, 2022
In the wake of Tuesday's massacre of 21 students and staff at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, thousands of people protested angrily in Houston Friday to protest outside the National Rifle Association's annual convention to condemn the gun lobby's deep complicity in the nation's mass shooting epidemic.
"We're building space to hold the families of Uvalde, to let them know that we are there for them, that we will stand up for them and we will be fighting for them."
With signs asking "how many more?" and chants proclaiming "enough is enough," demonstrators protested in 95-degree heat outside the George R. Brown Convention Center as NRA officials--who banned guns in the venue due to a scheduled address by former President Donald Trump Friday afternoon--welcomed conference speakers and attendees, who are expected to number around 80,000.
"I'm just tired of the NRA subordinating children's rights for gun rights," Ken Council, a 65-year-old protester, told the Houston Chronicle.
Members of the League of Unified Latin American Citizens, Moms Demand Action, Black Lives Matter, Indivisible, the Houston Federation of Teachers, and other groups took part in the protest.
\u201cParkland Shooting survivor speaks at protest outside @NRA Convention in Houston. "We will outlive the #NRA. The young people in the audience, we have the most valuable thing in politics, even more than money. We have time." #Uvalde\u201d— RA News (@RA News) 1653672841
"When you go and shoot up a school full of kids and teachers... you've taken someone's right to life away," said Ashton Woods, founder and lead organizer of Black Lives Matter Houston. "We're building space to hold the families of Uvalde, to let them know that we are there for them, that we will stand up for them and we will be fighting for them--even when this is over--to make sure we get common-sense gun reform."
Political leaders including Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner (D), U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), and Democratic Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke--who interrupted a press conference in Uvalde on Wednesday--were all scheduled to speak.
"The time to stop Uvalde was after a Columbine...and after Sandy Hook," O'Rourke told the large crowd to loud applause. "The time to stop another mass shooting is now."
\u201cAcross the street from the NRA convention: \u201cAm I next?\u201d\u201d— Mike Hixenbaugh (@Mike Hixenbaugh) 1653672084
\u201cProtesters chanting \u201call children matter\u201d across from the GRB as people walk in to attend the NRA\u2019s annual meetings. @abc13houston\u201d— Courtney Carpenter (@Courtney Carpenter) 1653668461
Lee lamented that "400 million guns, 45% of the guns in the world are in the United States... Will we continue to live in the house of shame?"
Demonstrators took aim at weapons makers, the gun lobby, and the mostly Republican elected officials who collectively receive millions of dollars in campaign contributions from firearms interests while failing to take meaningful action in the face of over 1.5 million U.S. gun deaths--more than the total number of American troops killed in the nation's many wars--over the past half century.
Trump is expected to be joined on stage by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who, according to OpenSecrets.org, is the top congressional beneficiary of the gun lobby's largesse.
\u201cThe NRA\u2019s annual meeting starts today in Texas, despite 19 children and 2 educators being killed miles away at an elementary school in Uvalde, TX\u201d— Violence Policy Center (@Violence Policy Center) 1653662307
Despite misleading headlines reporting that Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott would skip the NRA convention and instead appear in Uvalde, the governor--a five-figure recipient of NRA campaign cash--will still participate via a prerecorded video message to attendees.
Other Republicans not attending the convention but who receive hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in gun lobby funding also came under fire, including Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who blamed "wokeness" and critical race theory for the Uvalde massacre and asserted that "the solution is renewed faith."
\u201cThis group is walking around the NRA convention with a child-sized casket and holding up photos of kids killed in Uvalde.\n\n\u201cProtect our kids, not guns!\u201d\u201d— Mike Hixenbaugh (@Mike Hixenbaugh) 1653669168
The NRA protests follow a Thursday demonstration by faith leaders outside the convention center as well as a walkout by students at scores of elementary, middle, and high schools across the country.
On Wednesday, the organizers of March for Our Lives--the nationwide student-led gun control protests first held in the wake of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland, Florida--announced they were organizing a second such event for June 11.
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'Counting Dollars While They Were Counting Bodies': Abbott Attended Fundraiser Hours After Massacre
"The same governor who told Beto O'Rourke this isn't the time for politics took the time to stop at a political fundraiser for himself after he knew... kids had been murdered in a Texas elementary school."
May 26, 2022
Hours after a gunman armed with two AR-15-style rifles massacred 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott attended a high-dollar fundraiser for his reelection campaign at a private home 300 miles from the site of the shooting.
The Tuesday evening fundraiser took place at the home of Huntsville resident Jeff Bradley, who confirmed that he hosted the closed-door event but did not provide additional details, such as an attendance list.
"He was counting dollars while they were counting bodies," Beto O'Rourke, who is set to face Abbott in the November gubernatorial race, wrote on Twitter in response to news of the fundraiser, which was first reported by the Texas-based outlet Quorum Report.
Mark Miner, a spokesperson for Abbott's cash-flush reelection campaign, said in a statement that "after holding a briefing and press conference on the current wildfires in Taylor County, where he also provided an update on the situation in Uvalde, the governor did stop by a previously scheduled event last night at a private home in Walker County."
"All campaign and political activity, including a scheduled fundraiser for this evening, have been postponed until further notice," added Miner, who didn't explain why Abbott decided to attend the Walker County event.
\u201cHave we gotten to the point in this country where, for at least some politicians, raising campaign money is more important than responding to a horrific act of mass violence that had literally just happened?\nhttps://t.co/gbvJBXrDeL\u201d— Noah Bookbinder (@Noah Bookbinder) 1653518400
Abbott is also slated to speak at the National Rifle Association's annual gathering in Houston on Friday alongside former President Donald Trump and other prominent Republicans, but the governor suggested Wednesday that he has not made a final decision on whether to go through with the appearance.
"As far as future plans are concerned, listen, I'm living moment-to-moment right now," Abbott told reporters. "My heart, my head, and my body are in Uvalde right now, and I'm here to help the people who are hurting."
During a press conference with top state and local officials in Uvalde on Wednesday, Abbott suggested that the crisis of gun violence in the U.S. is attributable to mental illness, though the governor also said the gunman had "no known mental health history."
O'Rourke, a former U.S. representative for Texas' 16th Congressional District, interrupted the press conference by walking up to the stage and accusing the state's political leadership of "doing nothing" in the wake of the Uvalde shooting.
"This is on you!" O'Rourke shouted as security attempted to push him back.
After the press conference resumed, Abbott said Texans should "put aside personal agendas and think of somebody other than ourselves"--a comment believed to be aimed at O'Rourke.
Scott Braddock, editor of the Quorum Report, responded that "the same governor who told Beto O'Rourke this isn't the time for politics took the time to stop at a political fundraiser for himself after he knew... kids had been murdered in a Texas elementary school."
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'This Is on You!' Beto Interrupts Abbott Press Conference on Texas Massacre
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke accused Texas' GOP leaders of "doing nothing and offering us nothing" in the wake of the massacre at Robb Elementary School.
May 25, 2022
Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke on Wednesday interrupted a press conference led by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, Sen. Ted Cruz, and other top officials, walking up to the stage and accusing the state leaders of "doing nothing and offering us nothing" in the wake of the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
"This is on you, until you choose to do something," O'Rourke said as security attempted to escort him away from the stage.
As Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin called O'Rourke a "sick son of a bitch" who "needs to get his ass out of here" and several others--including law enforcement--pointedly told him to leave, at least one person in the crowd could be heard yelling, "Let him speak! Let him speak!"
Watch:
Progressive firebrand Nina Turner praised O'Rourke for disrupting the press conference, saying he's "bringing the correct energy here" as political leaders in Texas and across the country refuse to act in the face of persistent deadly gun violence.
Just before O'Rourke approached the stage in the Uvalde auditorium, Abbott claimed that "more mental health support" is needed to stop mass shootings like the one on Tuesday, which left 19 children and two adults dead.
But moments earlier, Abbott said the gunman--identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos--had "no known mental health history." Ramos legally purchased two AR-15-style rifles in the days after his 18th birthday.
Abbott and Cruz are both slated to speak at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting on Friday.
Shannon Watts, founder of the advocacy group Moms Demand Action, said O'Rourke is a "hero" and--pointing to the state officials' furious response to the interruption--added, "If only they'd get this angry about gun violence."
Speaking to the press before crashing Abbott's press conference, O'Rourke said that "it is insane that we allow an 18-year-old to go in and buy an AR-15."
"What the hell did we think he was going to do with that?" O'Rourke asked.
Listen to O'Rourke's comments:
\u201c\u201cIt is insane that we allow an 18-year-old to go in and buy an AR-15. What the hell did we think he was going to do with that?\u201d\n\nBeto O\u2019Rourke speaks to reporters after confronting Gov. Greg Abbott.\n\nVia: @MeetThePress\u201d— The Katie Phang Show (@The Katie Phang Show) 1653502163
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