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New footage shows Ted Cruz being confronted in a Houston restaurant by a gun reform activist over the Texas school shooting after the senator’s appearance at the NRA convention.
In the video shared by Indivisible Houston, Cruz can be seen posing for what he thinks is a photograph with the progressive activist group’s board member Benjamin Hernandez at Uptown Sushi in Houston.
With his arm still around Cruz, Hernandez begin to question him on gun control, including asking the senator why he was against why background checks.
‘The background checks wouldn’t have stopped the shooter,’ Cruz tells him. ‘You know what would have? The bill I introduced.’
Hernandez questions Cruz on gun cntrol, including asking the senator why he was against background checks
‘The background checks wouldn’t have stopped the shooter,’ Cruz tells Hernanzdez. ‘You know what would have? The bill I introduced,’
‘Nineteen children died! That’s on your hands! Ted Cruz, that’s on your hands!’ he says as Cruz sits back down at his table
Cruz then tells Hernandez to watch his earlier speech at the annual National Rifle Association conference which infuriates Hernandez.
The conference – a first since 2019 – came three days after the Uvalde shooting, where 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, originally of North Dakota, shot 19 students and two teachers around 11pm on Tuesday at Robb Elementary School.
‘You can make it harder for people to get guns in this country. You know that. You know that. But you stand here, you stand at the NRA convention ― it is harder, it is harder when there are more guns to stop gun violence,’ Hernandez tells Cruz.
The two men are separated by Cruz’ security and Cruz stands across from him with his hands on his hips as Hernandez asks him: ‘Why did you come here to the convention?’ Why? When 19 children died!’
‘Nineteen children died! That’s on your hands! Ted Cruz, that’s on your hands!’ he says as Cruz sits back down at his table.
Hernandez told the Huffington Post he was in Houston because his digital advertising company was livestreaming the protests staged outside the NRA convention.
He said he just happened to dine at the same restaurant as Cruz and when he saw him he thought: ‘Oh, hell no.’
Hernandez told the Huffington Post he was inspired to speak up by Democrat Beto O’Rourke, who ran and lost against Cruz for Senator and who is currently running to become Texas’ next Governor.
O’Rourke has been a vocal campaign for gun control. This week he interrupted a news conference by Republican officials, including his opponent Abbott, to demand immediate action after the worst school shooting in a decade.
Hernandez (pictured) said was inspired to speak up by Democrat Beto O’Rourke who is currently running to become Texas’ next Governor
Hours earlier Cruz suggested at the NRA convention that schools should model security measures of courthouses, such as ‘limiting the means of entry to one entrance’
Democratic candidate for Texas governor Beto O’Rourke demanded immediate action on gun control in an impassioned speech to protesters in Houston days after 19 children were shot dead at a school in Uvalde, about 270 miles away
‘A couple of days ago, I had caught that clip of Beto confronting Abbott, and I wrote something to the effect of, “Confront all these hypocritical assholes like Beto did.” And it’s really easy to tweet, right?’ Hernandez said. ‘But then two days later, Ted Cruz is walking in this space where I am, and it’s like, “OK, I have to go talk to him now.”
Hours earlier Cruz suggested at convention that schools should model security measures of courthouses, such as ‘limiting the means of entry to one entrance.’
‘Schools, likewise, should have a single point of entry,’ he lamented on Friday. ‘At that single point of entry, we should have multiple armed police officers, or if need be, military veterans trained to provide security and keep our children safe.
‘We need serious funding to upgrade our schools to install bulletproof doors, and locking classroom doors.’
Cruz went on to blame ‘virtual life’ as a fundamental reason shootings are happening, saying it creates an ‘absence of community and faith and love,’ Fox News reported.
‘Tragedies like the events of this week are a mirror forcing us to ask hard questions, demanding that we see where our culture is failing.’
He cited ‘broken families, absent fathers, declining church attendance, and social media bullying’ as reasons young people psyches are being effected and could potential lead them to violent.
Claudia Blakemore and Ira Dember protest against gun laws outside the NRA annual convention in Houston. The nation is again dealing with the aftermath of a mass shooting and the divisions between left and right about how to move forward
Children run to safety following a mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde on Tuesday
Mourners on Thursday place flowers on crosses with the names of children killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas
However, Cruz does not want citizens’ rights to gun to be limited.
‘Many would still tell us that the evil displayed in Uvalde or in Buffalo derives from the presence of guns in the hands of ordinary American citizens.
‘It’s rather easier to slander one’s political adversaries and demand that responsible citizens forfeit their constitutional rights than it is to examine the cultural sickness giving births to unspeakable acts of evil. It’s far less comfortable to ask why despair, isolation, and violent hatred is so prevalent in America,’ he said on Friday.
As Cruz defended gun rights, O’Rourke urged protesters outside the convention to break the opposition of Republicans to gun control by ‘getting in their faces before another child is shot in face.’
Thousands of protesters assembled across the street from a convention center, but O’Rourke delivered an impassioned plea for action days after 19 children and two teachers were shot dead about 270 miles away in Uvalde.
‘So I ask you for those of you in power and who hold office right now and were in the way and refuse to act: Please promise me you will get in their faces before another child is shot in their face,’ he told protesters.
The NRA event comes as the nation once again asks why a troubled 18-year-old could so easily buy two military-style weapons.
O’Rourke took issue with opponents who said the immediate aftermath of the bloodshed was a time for prayer and unity not politics.
‘The time for us to stop Uvalde was right after Sandy Hook,’ he said, in reference to the
‘The time for us to stop Uvalde was right after Parkland.
‘The time for us to stop the valley it was right after Santa Fe High School.
‘The time for us to stop the next mass shooting in this country is right now right here today with every single one of us.
Protesters outside the George R Brown Convention Center held crosses with photos of shooting victims and shouted, ‘NRA go away,’ and ‘Shame, it could be your kids today.’
One woman held a placard reading simply: ‘F*** the NRA,’ as thousands of members of the country’s biggest gun lobby streamed into the convention center.
Karen Pate, a high school teacher, was among the protesters.
‘I think the NRA being in Houston is disgusting at any time – but to be here right now is just appalling,’ she said.
‘It shows they don’t stand for anything other than making money.’
