‘I took out evil’: Trump at NRA salutes man who killed White Settlement church shooter
Former President Donald Trump read the name of each of the Uvalde victims at the start of a speech at the NRA annual convention in Houston and called the shooting a “savage and barbaric atrocity that shocks the conscience of every single American.”
Trump blamed Democrats for trying to politicize the massacre at the elementary school that left 19 children and two teachers dead. He said the U.S. must drastically change its approach to mental health.
The former president also called on “top to bottom” security overhaul at schools and said teachers should be allowed to conceal-carry. “There is no sign more inviting to a mass killer than a sign that declares a gun-free zone,” Trump said.
Trump called to the stage Jack Wilson, a volunteer security team member who shot and killed a shooter at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement in 2019. The gunman killed two people during service at the church, just west of Fort Worth, before Wilson stopped him within six seconds.
“I took out evil,” Wilson told the audience, adding that Trump was still his president. “We have to deal with evil at all levels. You have to be prepared to stand up and do what you have to do to stop evil in this country.”
In the wake of the church attack, Wilson’s actions drew the praise of state lawmakers, who lauded the passage of new gun laws in recent years that allow gun owners to take their weapons into places of worship and waive fees for private institutions that have their own security teams.
“I did what God would want me to do — would have me do — in that situation,” Wilson told the Star-Telegram in an interview a month later, after he received the Governor’s Medal of Courage in Austin. “And understanding that had I not done what I did, the situation would have been extremely much more chaotic.”
Wilson said the gunman had more rounds in his shotgun when he killed him with one shot seconds after he opened fire. Church deacon Tony Wallace and Richard White died in the Dec. 29 shooting. White also was a member of the church’s volunteer security team and a close friend of Wilson’s.
In an interview after appearing on stage at the NRA convention, Wilson said his reaction to Tuesday’s shooting in Uvalde was, “evil exists everywhere and we still have to work to take evil out.”
“And that means going back to God and going back to church and getting the families back together.”
Wilson said he’d gotten word Trump might invite him onto the stage.
“I was not confident it was going to, but, you know, it’s an honor to be recognized by him for what I did. That’s what I was called and meant to do, and that was God’s will,” Wilson said.
He said the first thing that needs to be done to prevent mass shootings is to “harden the schools.”
“We’ve hardened the airports. We’ve hardened the planes. We need to harden the schools, and put armed marshals in there. Put people who are trained in there to shoot if they have to,” Wilson said.
He pushed back against further restrictions on guns.
“If anybody wants a gun, they can get a gun, and so making more stringent requirements is not going to change that.”
The gunman legally purchased two rifles soon after turning 18, according to the Associated Press.
‘Too many damn times’
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas told NRA members gathered at its national convention Friday that Texas has seen “face of evil” repeatedly — shootings in Dallas, Sutherland Springs, Santa Fe, the Midland-Odessa area and now Uvalde.
“The entire state, the entire country, is horrified and grieving,” Cruz said. “And it’s an evil that has happened too many damn times.”
At the same time, he said, it must be understood what is behind the attacks.
“The elites who dominate our culture tell us firearms lie at the root of the problem,” he said, but “those furthest from the halls of power are the most dependent on the ability to defend themselves.
“Taking guns away from these responsible Americans will not make them safer, nor will it make our nation more secure,” he said.
The senator said Democrats in Washington want to see assault rifle bans and universal background checks, but those solutions wouldn’t stop mass murders.
“That son of a bitch passed a background check,” he said of the Uvalde gunman.
He said the focus should be on “stopping the bad guys” and imprisoning violent criminals. He also suggested limiting schools to a single point of entry where multiple armed police officers or trained military veterans are posted.
“Ultimately, as we all know, what stops armed bad guys is armed good guys,” he said.
Abbott speaks by video
Gov. Greg Abbott told the crowd he objected to stricter gun regulations as a solution to curb mass shootings.
“I come before you this afternoon with a very heavy heart,” Abbott said in a pre-recorded speech. His office announced Thursday he would be in Uvalde Friday to give an update on the shooting at Robb Elementary School where 19 children and two teachers were killed.
“Moments like this tear apart the very fabric of a community, a community that until Tuesday, never thought that a tragedy like this could ever happen in such a quiet South Texas town like Uvalde,” Abbott said.
He urged people across the country to pray for Uvalde.
Abbott asked the audience to remember that there are “thousands of laws on the books across the country that limit the opening or using a firearms.”
“Laws that have not stopped madmen from carrying out evil acts on innocent people and peaceful communities,” Abbott said.
Abbott continued, “In Uvalde the gunman committed a felony under Texas law before he even pulled the trigger. It’s a felony to possess a firearm on school premises, but that did not stop him. And what he did on campus is capital murder. That’s a crime that would have subjected him to the death penalty in Texas.”
‘We’re not supposed to burying our kids’
The Texas state senator who authored school safety legislation in 2019 after the mass shooting at Santa Fe High School in his district, said it’s “worth discussing” changing the age for buying AR-style firearms.
“I’m devastated,” Sen. Larry Taylor, attending the NRA convention in Houston on Friday, said of the shooting in Uvalde. “Having had that happen in Santa Fe in my district and going to those kids’ funerals — you know, we’re not supposed to burying our kids.”
The National Rifle Association’s annual convention comes days after the Uvalde school shooting west of San Antonio. Former President Donald Trump is set to make a speech this afternoon. Other speakers and entertainment artists have backed out of weekend appearances, while large crowds of protesters are gathered outside the venue.
Asked about potential changes or additions to the 2019 legislation, Taylor, a Friendswood Republican who didn’t seek re-election this year, maintained that more needs to be known about circumstances around the attack and law enforcement presence.
“It’s hard to say what we need to do next until we know in this particular case, and right now I don’t think those facts are out there,” he said.
Taylor generally dismissed calls for gun legislation.
“We hear that all the time, and people like that aren’t going to follow whatever law you pass,” he said.
But he said lawmakers should consider whether 18-year-olds are able to legally purchase weapons like the AR-15.
“I’m not in a position where I’ll be able to work on that specifically, but it’s certainly — when I hear that, it gives me pause,” he said. “Maybe we should discuss that. We do have limits — 21 years old for drinking and things like that, so it may be worth looking at something like that.”
Taylor said he hasn’t heard from anyone asking him not to attend the NRA convention.
“This has been planned a long time. It’s unfortunate timing wise, but I don’t think it’s disrespectful to Uvalde to have this convention,” he said. “We’ll certainly show respect. It’ll probably be worth mentioning something about the loss, but as far as other people not coming, that’s their decision.”
O’Rourke calls for NRA convention attendees to join activists against gun violence
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke joined a crowd of protesters gathered outside the NRA convention in Houston to tell the people congregated there that the time to act to prevent the next mass shooting is now, and that those attending the NRA convention aren’t the enemies of those who are fighting for tighter gun restrictions.
“The people attending the NRA convention are not our enemies, we are not yours,” O’Rourke said. “We extend with our hands open and unarmed, in a show of peace and fellowship, to welcome you to join us to make sure this no longer happens in this country. But the time for you to respond and to join us is now. We cannot wait any longer for you. Those who will be the victims of the next mass shooting unless we act are counting on us now.”
O’Rourke did not talk about any specific legislation that should be supported or whether he wants to see laws introduced to make it harder to get a gun or to make it impossible to get certain types of firearms.
He told the gathered activists the story of one of the victims in Uvalde, Oliva, and how balloons from her 10th birthday were still floating against the ceiling in her home and how her younger siblings still didn’t understand what happened to her when he went to visit the family. He said the time to prevent Uvalde was after gunmen attacked schools like Sandy Hook and Santa Fe High School.
“The time for us to stop the next mass shooting is right here, right now,” O’Rourke said.
He also said the road ahead for advocates of stricter gun legislation won’t be an easy one, but it will be necessary.
“We have to commit ourselves to do right now the things that are hard,” O’Rourke said. “Nothing about this will be easy.”
His speech came two days after he was escorted out of a news conference held by Gov. Greg Abbott and other Texas Republican leaders, saying that attacks like the one at Robb Elementary in Uvalde are “on you until you choose to do something.”
‘We must be here’
Protesters are gathering outside the NRA convention in Houston where Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke was set to speak in a nearby park.
Signs read “Protect Kids Not Guns” and “Ban Assault Weapons Now!”
High School Sophomore Alexis Palomo of League City raised a over her head a neon green sign with the words “I DON’T FEEL SAFE AT SCHOOL” written on it.
“It’s just super scary,” she said. “Even kids who go to my school that at are 18 can buy like a gun or something that could potentially hurt me or my classmates.”
Tejano artist Little Joe of Little Joe y La Familia was among the protesters wearing a maroon “Uvalde Strong” shirt.
“We must be here and we need to get others involved because it’s the only way to start making a change for the better,” he said.
The gathering became contentious at one point when a man approached and there was shouting with protesters. The man was eventually seen walking away with law enforcement, which has a heavy presence around the park.
Bandini Patel said she decided to come after reading about calls to arm teachers and install metal detectors as a response to the shooting.
“I felt like I had to scream,” she said.
She wants the state to work on things like background checks and barring 18-year-olds from buying assault rifles.
NRA convention attendees wait in line to hear Trump, other speakers
By 10 a.m., conference attendees were forming a line to hear former President Donald Trump and others speak at a forum that’s scheduled to start at 2 p.m. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to give pre-recorded remarks at the event.
Rows of exhibitors packed a hall at the George R. Brown Convention Center as attendees walked around and looked at the guns and accessories on display.
Mark Duncan of Fulshear drove about 45 minutes for Trump’s appearance. He wore a hat from the NRA’s convention in Dallas.
“Very, very disappointed on what happened in Uvalde,” he said, asked about the event’s proximity to the shooting. “But like I said before, it’s not the gun that kills, it’s the people with the gun that kills.”
He said Democrats and Republicans need to “get together and come up with something” to respond.
“I think it has a lot to do with school safety,” Duncan said.
Another person in line said he decided after the Uvalde shooting to come to the convention from out of state to hear what speakers, including Trump, had to say about the attack. He thinks there has to be a middle ground to keep guns away from those who shouldn’t have them.
Texas officials, musicians back out of NRA appearances
The latest to announce a cancellation is Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who in a Thursday statement said he would not be give remarks at a Friday morning prayer breakfast.
“After prayerful consideration and discussion with NRA officials, I have decided not to speak at the NRA breakfast this morning,” Patrick said in a statement. ““While a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and an NRA member, I would not want my appearance today to bring any additional pain or grief to the families and all those suffering in Uvalde. This is a time to focus on the families, first and foremost.”
Gov. Greg Abbott late Thursday said he was providing pre-recorded remarks to the event and would head back to Uvalde for a press conference in the afternoon.
Earlier in the week, Sen. John Cornyn’s office said he had an unexpected schedule change that the NRA was informed of prior to the shooting, and wouldn’t be able to attend.
Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw, who was also scheduled to attend, will not because he’s visiting Ukraine, according to Politico.
Musicians Don McLean, Lee Greenwood, Larry Gatlin have canceled their performances at the event, according to USA Today.
The gun lobbyist group’s meeting is scheduled to run Friday, May 27, to Sunday, May 29, at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. The annual meeting was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.
“Although an investigation is underway and facts are still emerging, we recognize this was the act of a lone, deranged criminal,” the NRA said in a statement. “As we gather in Houston, we will reflect on these events, pray for the victims, recognize our patriotic members, and pledge to redouble our commitment to making our schools secure.”
Several protests outside the convention center are planned, while members will be looking at gun exhibits and listening to conservative lawmakers.
Others set to attend include North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
This story was originally published May 27, 2022 at 10:26 AM with the headline "‘I took out evil’: Trump at NRA salutes man who killed White Settlement church shooter."
