HOUSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump argued on Friday that the United States should make it easier to lock down “disturbed” people and end gun-free school zones after a shooting this week in an elementary school in Texas.
“Clearly we need to make it much easier to lock violent and mentally disturbed people into mental institutions,” Donald Trump said during a speech at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention. the gun lobby in Houston.
The fatal shooting of 19 students and two teachers from Uvalde by an 18-year-old gunman armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle has again focused attention on the NRA, which grants members of the Congressmen, mostly Republicans, large donations.
Donald Trump said that to make schools safer, every school should have a unique entrance, strong fences and metal detectors, adding that there should also be a police officer or armed guard permanently in each school.
“It’s not a question of money. It’s a question of will. If the United States has 40 billion dollars (37 billion euros) to send to Ukraine, we can do it”, he said, referring to Washington’s financial and military support for Kyiv after Russia invaded in February.
The former US president also called for an end to gun-free school zones, saying such zones leave victims without the means to defend themselves in the event of an attack by an armed person.
“As the old saying goes, the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” added Donald Trump.
“The existence of evil is one of the very best reasons to arm law-abiding citizens.”
(Reporting Arathy Somasekhar in Houston, with input from Steve Holland in Washington, written by Kanishka Singh; French version Camille Raynaud)