The National Rifle Association (NRA, for its acronym in English) does not seem to notice the shock caused in the United States by the Texas elementary school massacre. held its annual meeting this weekend in Texas with the presence of Donald Trump as guest star.

theAccording to the official NRA website, the meeting, which will take place in Houston, a city in Texas located less than 500 km from where the massacre took placewill take place over three days in a venue with an exhibition area of ​​more than five acres, where attendees will learn about “the latest weapons and equipment made by leading companies in the industry.”

“Make plans now to join other Second Amendment patriots in the a weekend full of freedom for the whole familyas we celebrate freedom, guns and the Second Amendment, ”read a notice on the page of the group promoting the event.

The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution he designates it right of the population to bear arms.

In addition to Trump, too The two most important members of the Republican Party in Texas will attendthe governor and one of the state senators, Greg Abbott and Ted Cruz, respectively.

Trump is considered an idol of the NRA. In a tweet promoting the event, the agency published a video in which the former U.S. president can be seen saying “he loves the NRA and the Second Amendment.”

“It is truly an honor to have President Trump meet with NRA members for the sixth time at our Houston Leadership Forum,” NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre said in a statement announcing the event.

LaPierre claimed that Trump helped “secure the freedom of generations of Americans” by appointing judges who “respect the Constitution”, and thanked him for defending “the right to keep and bear arms“.

While Trump has always been close to the NRA, after the Parkland High School shooting in 2018 expressed lukewarm support for background checks and greater police power to seize weapons from people with mental health problems.

He faced considerable opposition, both from the NRA and his own party, and he quickly turned his back on those proposals. His government also banned the use of bump stocksa device that accelerates the firing of a semi-automatic rifle.

The blast of guns

The NRA meeting will take place not only against the background of grief over a new school massacre, but also against new calls for the Joe Biden administration to put in place gun control regulations and “stand in the gun lobby.” , considered one of the most powerful in all of Washington.

The political controversy around the gun control issue was exposed again a few hours later Salvador Ramos has 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary Schoollocated in the town of Uvalde.

Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, the state where the destructive Sandy Hook school shooting took place, called on his colleagues to take concrete steps to prevent further violence.

“It’s inevitable, these kids are not unlucky. It only happens in this country and nothing else. Nowhere are the little kids who go to school thinking they can be shot that day,” he said. Murphy, pleading to “find a way to pass. Laws that lower it.”

Senator Ted Cruz, for his part, tweeted that he and his wife were praying for children and family “in the horrific hunt in Uvalde,” but did not mention the issue of access to guns , an issue that specialists say is central to understanding the spread of tragedies of this kind.

The Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez crossed paths with Senator Cruz on Twitter, reminding her of her connections to the NRA. “Won’t he be a speaker at the NRA meeting in three days, which will also take place in Houston?” Cortes wrote. “You can do more with prayer. Faith without works is dead“, complete.

The episode was similar to what happened in 1999, when the NRA decided to hold a meeting in Denver just days after the Columbine High School massacrewhich is also in Colorado, which led to thousands of people protesting at the gates where the event took place.