HOUSTON (Fwrd Axis) — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was confronted at a Houston restaurant over his hard-line stance on guns following his appearance at the NRA convention on Friday.
The confrontation occurred as Cruz was sitting down to have dinner at a sushi restaurant after his speech at the three-day NRA convention that took place just three days after 21 people were murdered at Robbs Elementary School in Uvalde. The man, identified as Benjamin Hernandez, shouted at Cruz as he saw him having dinner.
“Why did you speak tonight? Why did you come here to the convention to take blood money? Why, when 19 children died? 19 children died! That’s on your hands!” he says in a video of the incident.
Someone heckled Ted Cruz while he was eating at a restaurant last night
“19 children died! That’s on your hands! Ted Cruz, that’s on your hands!” pic.twitter.com/PaeiQYqfBo
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) May 28, 2022
Cruz replied by telling Hernandez to listen to the nearly 30-minute speech he gave at the convention and that the Democrats’ proposed plan would not have stopped those 19 children from being massacred.
“You know, I would encourage you ― I gave about a half-hour speech today at the NRA convention ― I encourage you to watch it,” Cruz said.
Hernandez did not want to hear about the speech and instead pleaded with the lawmaker to change his stance on firearms to save innocent lives in the future.
The video was posted in full on Invisible Houston, an advocacy organization of which Hernandez is a board member. Authorities have confirmed that the Uvalde gunman purchased two AR-15 assault rifles after his 18th birthday and Hernandez brought that up in the discussion, saying the gunman “waited until the day he was 18” to purchase the firearms.
“But the background checks wouldn’t have stopped the shooter,” Cruz answered.
“As a constituent, you know, he refuses to allow us to engage him in open public forums. So this is one of the ways we can reach him,” Hernandez told Insider. “I’d never done anything like this before.”
A spokesperson for Cruz did not immediately respond to FWRD AXIS News’ request for comment.
Cruz railed against calls for stricter gun laws at the NRA convention, instead, he placed blame on politics and too many doors on buildings.
“It is far easier to slander one’s political adversaries and to demand that responsible citizens forfeit their constitutional rights than it is to examine the cultural sickness giving birth to unspeakable acts of evil,” he said.
Republicans have stuck to their talk points as Democrats and activists continue to press Congress on reforming existing gun laws. While the GOP has stuck to their rhetoric citing mental illness as the culprit, the facts show only a small percentage of those who committed violent shootings are mentally ill.
“Let’s focus on what works: stopping the bad guys, imprisoning violent criminals, and protecting our vulnerable,” Cruz said.
Thousands of protesters gathered outside the George R. Brown Convention Center, where the event is being held. That’s just 270 miles away from the school where the killings took place.
