“America needs real solutions and real leadership in this moment, not politicians and partnership,” Trump said in a post made on his social media platform Truth Social.
“That’s why I will keep my longtime commitment to speak in Texas at the NRA Convention and deliver an important address to America. In the meantime, we all continue to pray for the victims, their families, and for our entire nation – we are all in this together!”
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Starting Friday, the NRA is expected to hold a slew of meetings and events in Houston, less than 300 miles from Uvalde, Texas, where an 18-year-old gunman shot and killed 19 children and two adults at an elementary school.
Trump is among the listed speakers for a Friday NRA Institute for Legislative Action leadership forum. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), who is also listed, announced to The Hill on Wednesday that she will be speaking at the event.
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Other lawmakers who were named as speakers for the forum, however, will not be attending. A spokesperson for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told The Hill that “prior to the tragedy in Uvalde we had already informed the NRA he would not be able to speak due to an unexpected change in his schedule.” A spokesperson for Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) similarly told Politico that the lawmaker had notified the NRA of a scheduled conflict before the shooting.
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The shooting comes around six months before the 10-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that left 28 people dead and two others injured in Connecticut.
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And it comes less than two weeks since a different gunman killed 10 people and wounded three others, most of whom were Black, at a Buffalo, N.Y., grocery store.
According to the NRA, the Secret Service is taking control of the hall during Trump's speech and is rejecting attendees from bringing firearms, firearms accessories and knives. Ammunition, laser pointers, pepper spray, toy guns, backpacks and other items also won't be allowed. The Secret Service will search attendees with magnetometers before they enter the hall, the NRA said.
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This isn't the first time guns have been prohibited during a part of the gun group's annual convention. In 2018 a similar restriction was put in place during a speech by then-Vice President Mike Pence.
The Secret Service told NPR in a statement at the time that the agency has the "authority to preclude firearms from entering sites visited by our protectees, including those located in open-carry states."
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