Texas senator Ted Cruz, who was attending a vigil for victims of the Robb Elementary School massacre, stormed out of an interview for Sky News after he was asked why school mass shootings “only happen in America".
The Republican senator had joined Texas Governor Greg Abbott to offer solace to hundreds of tearful relations and friends mourning 19 children and two teachers gunned down in the worst such incident since Adam Lanza killed 20 pupils and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012.
As Sky News’ British journalist Mark Stone asked Cruz if now was the time to reform gun laws, the politician replied:
"You know, it's easy to go to politics… The proposals from Democrats and the media? Inevitably, when some violent psychopath murders people… if you want to stop violent crime, the proposals the Democrats have? None of them would have stopped this."
The suspect, Salvador Ramos, is said to have used two AR15-style rifles that he bought legally along with 375 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition a week before the shooting. He had made the purchase days after his 18th birthday, according to Texas police. In the stand-off with responding law enforcement officers, Ramos was fatally shot at the scene of his shooting spree.
People sit on the curb outside of Robb Elementary School as State troopers guard the area in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022
© AFP 2023 / ALLISON DINNER
The journalist continued to press Cruz to reply to the question “why does this only happen in America?” citing the fact that between 2009 and 2018 there had been 288 school shootings in the US.
"Why only in America? Why is this American exceptionalism so awful?" he asked, prompting Cruz to respond with:
"You know, I'm sorry you think American exceptionalism is awful. You've got your political agenda. God love you…"
Sky's Stone refused to relent, continuing with: "Senator, I just want to understand why you do not think that guns are the problem. It's just an American problem."
The Texas Republican Senator, who had earlier insisted that gun control “doesn’t work” in a CNN interview, claiming the solution is to devote “far more law enforcement resources to stopping violent criminals”, turned to walk off.
As the journalist shouted "You can't answer that, can you?" as his parting shot, Cruz turned and said:
"Why is it that people come from all over the world to America? Because it's the freest, most prosperous, safest country on Earth. Stop being a propagandist."
This exchange took place after Texas Governor Greg Abbott was heckled during a press conference in Uvalde after the mass shooting.
Abbott was interrupted by Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke, who denounced him for doing nothing, adding that the shooting was "totally predictable" in a culture of lax gun laws.
"The time to stop the next shooting is right now, and you are doing nothing,” O'Rourke said, before he was escorted from the room.
In the wake of the massacre, Senate Majority Leader, New York State Democrat Chuck Schumer called on Americans to vote for more pro gun-control candidates in the November mid-terms.
Speaking on the Senate floor on Wednesday, Schumer pledged to push ahead with Bills requiring background checks on gun buyers and on programmes to track and prevent domestic terrorism. He also criticised his Republican colleagues for their “obeisance” to such anti gun-control lobby groups as the National Rifle Association (NRA), saying that “too many members on that side care more about the NRA than they do about families who grieve for victims of gun violence.”
In March, the House passed the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, but it hasn’t yet been brought up for a vote in the Senate.