America’s mighty gun lobby, the National Rifle Association (NRA), opens its annual convention in Houston, Texas today. The state saw one of the worst massacres at a school this week, which resulted in the deaths of 21 people, including 19 children.

About 500 kilometers from Uvalde in the south of the country, where an 18-year-old teenager was murdered on Tuesday, 24, the largest arms show in the United States begins as the country debates the adoption of stricter laws. matter. On Thursday, the NRA was content to condemn an ​​act “by an isolated and troubled criminal.”

Among those confirmed at the event is former President Donald Trump, who will be speaking in Houston. On Wednesday, 25th, he declared that the United States “needs real solutions and real leadership right now, not politicians and partisan statements,” citing his participation in the Republican event. “So I will respect my word to speak at the NRA meeting in Texas,” he said, promising “an important speech to the American people.”

Daniel Defense, maker of the assault rifle used in the Uvalde massacre, said on Thursday 26 that he would not attend the event “due to the terrible tragedy in Uvalde, where one of our products was used in a criminal manner”. , a company spokesperson explained. “We believe it is inappropriate to promote our products this week,” he reiterated.

After strong criticism, the company deleted a tweet posted on May 16 that showed a boy holding a rifle. In the headline is a no less controversial message: “Educate a child in the way he should follow, and when he grows up he will not go astray”.

Delay for police action

Texas police are also at the center of a controversy accused of waiting too long to intervene at the Uvalde elementary school where the massacre took place. According to the videos and several testimonies, the attack’s author, Salvador Ramos, carried out the attack while the parents were desperately waiting for the agents to take action.

“Agents reacted within minutes,” Uvalde police chief Daniel Rodriguez argued.

In the face of a barrage of criticism, Victor Escalon of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) said at a press conference that investigators are still working to piece together exactly what happened. He also denied previous reports that the attacker was confronted by a school official and said there was no armed agent at the scene when the attack began.

In a video posted on social media, the students’ parents appear angry and beg the police to intervene. The footage also shows a police officer violently pushing a person trying to enter his workplace.

Pastor Daniel Myers, 72, said that 30 minutes after the attacker arrived at the scene, he and his wife, Matilda, arrived in front of the school. The parents “was ready to enter. Someone said, ‘I was in the army, give me a gun. I won’t hesitate. I will enter.’

the whole city mourns

Tragedy has gripped Uvalde, a town of 16,000 people close to the Mexican border, with a predominantly Latino population. The White House announced that US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill will travel to the region on Sunday to “follow the pain of the community”.

One of the school teachers who was present when the tragedy occurred told the American channel ABC that the students were watching a cartoon when they heard the gunshots. Students quickly put into practice the training they receive for such events by keeping quiet under their desks. These procedures have become the norm in schools in the United States, where deadly shooting attacks are repeated over and over.

The gunfire was “very loud,” Madison Saiz, an eight-year-old student, told AFP. “Our teacher told us to stay in a corner and the whole class did that,” she said.

In the United States, school shootings are a recurring scourge that successive governments have so far been unable to stop. The debate over gun regulation is almost on hold, given the lack of hope that Congress will pass an ambitious federal law on the matter.

The “March for Our Lives” movement formed after the 2018 Parkland attack called for a large rally in Washington on June 11 to call for stricter gun regulations.