Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) paused an interview with a British reporter on Wednesday instead of answering a tough question about America’s mass shooting pandemic.
This comes as Sky News reporter Mark Stone asked a pro-gun senator whether Monday’s shooting in Uvalde, Texas, represented an opportunity Reform gun laws.
Cruz, who is among the top recipients of campaign contributions from gun lobbyists, did not like the question and suggested that reporters were politicizing the tragedy.
“You know, it’s easy to get into politics,” he said before dismissing previous suggestions to curb gun violence.
“Proposals from Democrats and media? Essentially, when some violent psychopaths murder people… if you want to stop violent crime, what do Democrats have to offer? None of them would have stopped it,” Cruz claimed.
Stone then went on to say that the US is “extraordinary” when it comes to mass shootings – with 288 school shootings between 2009 and 2018 – 280 more than Mexico, the next leading country.
“Why only in America? Why is this American exceptionalism so terrible?” Stone asked.
Cruz hit out at Stone’s use of the term popular Republican, and used it to focus his answer on anything other than the question asked.
“You know, I’m sorry you think American exceptionalism is terrible. You’ve got your political agenda. God love you…” Cruz said.
The reporter was unconcerned.
“Senator, I just want to understand why you don’t think guns are the problem. It’s just an American problem,” he asked.
When Cruise left, Stone asked again, “You can’t answer that, can you?”
Cruz then accused Stone of not appreciating America
“Why is it that people from all over the world come to America? Because it is the freest, most prosperous, safest country on earth. Stop being a preacher.”
While Cruz refrained from answering questions about America’s problem of gun violence, he did try to offer possible solutions. He suggested that the solution to school shootings was fewer doors and more guns – a suggestion that many found strange.
On Thursday, Cruz showed that he would stand firm with his friends in the gun lobby and speak at the National Rifle Association convention over the coming weekend in Houston.
“I’m going there because what the Democrats and the press try to do in the wake of every mass shooting is they try to discredit the law-abiding gun owners, try to demonstrate to the NRA,” he told CBS. told Dallas-Fort Worth.
