Republican convention-goers boo Texas Senator John Cornyn during speech on gun legislation
Delegates booed U.S. Sen. John Cornyn at the Texas Republican Convention on Friday as he gave a speech on gun legislation. Cornyn is the lead Republican negotiator on potential gun legislation in the Senate following the school shooting in Uvalde.
Cornyn told convention-goers that policies on the table include support for schools, mental health resources and making sure that violent criminals and the mentally ill cannot buy firearms.
“I will not under any circumstances support new restrictions for law-abiding gun owners,” Cornyn said. “That will always be my red line, and despite what some of you may have heard, the framework that we are working on is consistent with that red line.”
His speech before a room of delegates were met by boos from the crowd, including as he took the stage.
Cornyn said Democrats pushed for an assault weapons ban and tried to get a three week mandatory waiting period for all gun purchases, and said he said “no.” Cornyn said he also opposed universal background checks, magazine bans and licensing requirements.
Cornyn said his guiding principle is making sure good people have guns and bad people don’t. Cornyn said he’s passionate about the constitution and takes seriously the right to bear arms. What happened in Uvalde reflected the “callousness of a human heart” not flaws of the constitution, he said.
“If we’re going to change anything in this country, it should not be the right of law-abiding Americans to keep and bear arms,” he said. “That’s what I made clear to my fellow senators who approached me asking me to work on mental health and school safety legislation.”
During the speech Cornyn expressed interest in enforcing laws that are already on the books.
Earlier U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz pushed back on restricting access to guns.
“If we lived in a sane rational world, we be coming together saying, ‘How do we stop violent crime?’’’ Cruz said. “We go after the criminals. We go after the felons. We go after the fugitives. We go after those with serious mental illness trying to illegally buy guns.”
He said Democrats want to take away law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights.
“It doesn’t make people safer, and it is contrary to the Constitution,” Cruz said.
Cruz said he was proud to speak at the NRA convention in Houston days after the shooting.
This story was originally published June 17, 2022 at 4:17 PM.
