OPINION: This article contains commentary which may reflect the author’s opinion
Speaking out at the National Rifle Association convention, former President Trump addressed the school shooting in Uvalde, including mental illness and the action of a hero.
Trump began his speech reading the names of victims, teachers and students, at the elementary school who perished at the hands of a madman, and mourning their loss.
“Each precious young soul that was taken is an incomprehensible loss, literally not comprehensible, stolen from us by a malice that no words can describe, sickness. The monster who committed this crime is pure evil, pure cruelty, pure hatred, absolute pure hatred. And while those he slaughtered are now with God in heaven, he will be eternally damned to burn in the fires of hell,” the former president said.
“As we mourn for so many beautiful victims, I know that everyone here joins me in praying for the families who are suddenly missing the brightest light in their lives. We see their agony, we ask God to ease their suffering and to heal their pain and together we grieve side by side as one great American family,” he said.
Trump called for attention to the root of this problem, namely mentally ill individuals who are intent on hurting or killing others.
“While we don’t yet know enough about this week’s killing, we know there are many things we must do,” the president said. “We need to drastically change our approach to mental health. There are always so many warning signs. Almost all of these disfigured minds share the same profile.”
“Teachers, parents, school officials, and community members need to be recognizing and addressing these alarm bells promptly and very, very aggressively,” he said.. “And our school discipline systems, instead of making excuses and continually turning a blind eye, need to confront bad behavior head on and quickly. And clearly we need to make it far easier to confine the violent and mentally deranged into mental institutions.”
Trump put the issue in perspective.
“If the United States has $40 billion to send to Ukraine, we should be able to do whatever it takes to keep our children safe at home, the former president said. “We spent trillions in Iraq, trillions in Afghanistan, and got nothing. Before we nation-build the rest of the world, we should be building safe schools for our own children in our own nation. Right?”
At the elementary school in Uvalde, 3 border Patrol agents entered and stopped the shooter, saving many lives of teachers and children.
The 3 agents are members of the Border Patrol Tactical Unit, a group of around 240 agents who are among the most highly trained in federal law enforcement, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Using a ballistic shield, the agents entered the classroom and shot and killed the gunman, the Washington Post reported.
Officers had been waiting outside for almost 50 minutes while children repeatedly called 911 for help, the Post report states.
During his speech, Trump called to the stage a person who became a hero stepping in during a previous shooter incident.
That person is Jack Wilson.
Wilson was working as a volunteer security team member when he shot and killed a shooter at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement in 2019.
Wilson became a hero that day when stopped the shooter within six seconds.
Trump called him to the stage and asked him to speak.
“I took out evil,” he said to the audience as he also said that former President Trump was still his president. “We have to deal with evil at all levels. You have to be prepared to stand up and do what you have to do to stop evil in this country.”
During a post-convention interview, Wilson said his reaction to Tuesday’s shooting in Uvalde was, “evil exists everywhere and we still have to work to take evil out,” The Star Telegram reported.
Wilson gave credit to God for putting him in the right place at the right time.
“And that means going back to God and going back to church and getting the families back together.” Wilson said he’d gotten word Trump might invite him onto the stage. “I was not confident it was going to, but, you know, it’s an honor to be recognized by him for what I did. That’s what I was called and meant to do, and that was God’s will,” Wilson said.
Wilson noted that common sense dictates that increasing security at schools is obviously needed,” “We’ve hardened the airports. We’ve hardened the planes. We need to harden the schools, and put armed marshals in there. Put people who are trained in there to shoot if they have to.”
Wilson also stated the obvious regarding criminals and the mentally ill procuring weapons, “If anybody wants a gun, they can get a gun, and so making more stringent requirements is not going to change that.”
Former President Trump seems to see that we need more highly trained heroes, and less excuses.
President Trump honors Texas hero Jack Wilson at #NRAconvention.
Wilson famously stopped a church shooter in White Settlement, TX, saving countless lives with one perfect shot from his concealed firearm. pic.twitter.com/ENXqeNOwmg
— NRA (@NRA) May 27, 2022
Source: The Republic Brief