Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas called the shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, an “unspeakable crime.”
But Cruz said he still doesn’t see gun reform as a solution. Instead, he said the way to prevent this type of crime is “going after felons and fugitives and those with serious mental illness arresting them prosecuting them when they try to illegally buy firearms.”
“You know inevitably, when there’s a murderer of this kind, you see politicians try to politicize it, you see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law abiding citizens. That doesn’t work. It’s not effective. It doesn’t prevent crime,” he said.
Instead, Cruz advocated for more armed law enforcement resources on school campuses.
“There’s no doubt we need to do more to keep children in school safe. We know from past experience one of the most effective tool for keeping kids safe is armed law enforcement on the campus. We don’t know the details of what happened at Robb Elementary School, but there will be a lot of time to examine what steps could have been taken proactively to enhance the safety and security of the school right now,” he said.