HOUSTON/WASHINGTON, May 27 (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump argued on Friday that the United States should ease the confinement of “disturbed” people and end gun-free school zones after a shooting this week at an elementary school in Texas.
“It’s clear that 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. gun lobby, houston.
The fatal shooting of 19 Uvalde students and two teachers by an 18-year-old shooter armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle has again focused attention on the NRA, which grants members of Congress , mostly Republicans, large donations.
Donald Trump said that to make schools safer, every school should have a single entrance, strong fences and metal detectors, before adding that there should also be a police officer or an 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 Ukraine, we can do it”, a- he said, referring to the financial and military support given by Washington Kyiv after the invasion of Russia in February.
The former US president also called for an end to gun-free school zones, saying such zones leave victims with no means of defending themselves in the event of an attack by a gunman.
“As the old saying goes, the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” Trump added.
“The existence of evil is one of the very best reasons to arm law-abiding citizens.”
(Report Arathy Somasekhar Houston, with contributions from Steve Holland Washington, written by Kanishka Singh; French version Camille Raynaud)