According to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the solution to school shootings is fewer doorways and more guns.
After 19 children and two teachers were killed at a Texas elementary school Tuesday by a man armed with an assault rifle, the state’s senator suggested that schools would be safer if there was only one way in or out.
“One of the things that everyone agreed is don’t have all of these unlocked back doors. Have one door into and out of the school and have … armed police officers at that door,” he told Fox News Wednesday.
Armed police officers were at the door quite quickly, thanks to several 911 calls. Those officers shot at the gunman and still did not prevent the deaths of those 21 victims.
“If that had happened,” Cruz said, “if those federal grants had gone to this school, when that psychopath arrived, the armed police officers could have taken him out. And we’d have 19 children and two teachers still alive.”
He accused Democrats calling for gun reform of “empty political posturing” after a tragedy and then immediately complained that Democrats blocked legislation he introduced nearly a decade ago that would spend $300 million on federal grants to “harden schools to make them safer” with upgrades like bulletproof doors, bulletproof glass and armed police officers.
The U.S. has significantly more mass shootings than any other developed country, some of the loosest controls over who can buy guns and what sort of firearms are allowed.
Elected Republicans have repeatedly called for heightened security and mental health resources to protect children from shooting massacres, even though the data has shown again and again that the U.S. is an outlier on guns, not mental health or school security.
House Democrats and some Republicans have passed two bills that would tighten gun sales regulations by expanding background checks ― measures that consistently attract support from a majority of Americans in polls. But the legislation has stalled due to resistance from Senate Republicans, many of whom receive enormous campaign support from gun lobbyists.
Cruz, for example, has received nearly $750,000 during his time in office, according to campaign finance tracker Open Secrets.
His proposal to cut back on doors instead of guns met immediate backlash online. See the reaction below.
