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sen. Ted Cruz was confronted at a Houston restaurant after performing at the NRA convention.
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Video shows a former House candidate yelling at Cruz, “Why did you speak tonight?”
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Several Texas Republicans left the NRA conference, including Governor Greg Abbott and Senator John Cornyn.
A video shows Texas Senator Ted Cruz being confronted at a restaurant after his performance at the National Rifle Association convention in Houston.
The tense exchange came days after an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 schoolchildren and two teachers on Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
“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!” the video shows Benjamin Hernandez yelling at Cruz, who waved as Hernandez was dragged away by security.
Hernandez, an independent, ran to Congress to represent TX-09, which includes parts of Houston, in 2018.
A longer video was posted by Indivisible Houston, a political advocacy organization of which Hernandez is a board member. The video shows the beginning of the exchange, where Cruz posed for a photo with Hernandez before starting to question why Cruz refuses to support stricter gun laws, including background checks.
At one point, Hernandez said that Uvalde’s shooter waited “until the day he was 18” to buy several firearms. Authorities have confirmed that the gunman purchased two assault weapons after his 18th birthday on May 16.
Cruz replied, “But the background checks wouldn’t have stopped the shooter.” Cruz opposes nearly all gun control measures proposed in Congress, but instead calls for armed officers in schools.
At various points in the video, Cruz said to Hernandez, “Okay, you don’t want to listen to me” and “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Hernandez told Insider that he happened to be dining at the restaurant when he saw Cruz enter. He asked Cruz to pose for a photo after the senator had finished eating, and the senator immediately stood up.
“As a voter, he refuses to allow us to involve him in public forums, so this is one of the ways we can reach him,” Hernandez said. “I’d never done anything like this before.”
He added: “At that point I’m like, ‘I have to do this because there are people who are really suffering.’ And if it takes Ted Cruz, you know, making Ted Cruz uncomfortable while he’s eating, I mean, that’s just the price of it.”
The NRA’s annual meeting, which began Friday, sparked protests in Houston. Cruz’s appearance at the convention was notable after several other top speakers – including Governor Greg Abbott, Senator John Cornyn and Representative Dan Crenshaw – dropped out.
However, Abbott appeared virtually and went to Uvalde in person.
“The fact that Ted Cruz is still showing up at the convention, an organization that is actively blocking legislation that could help end gun violence in this country. I mean, that’s just unbelievable,” said Hernandez, who attended a protest. .
During the confrontation with Cruz, Hernandez thought about the parents of the murdered children in Uvalde, as well as his own child.
“I’m a new father. I have a child. This is different. I just want to know what you do as a senator? And what things can you support?” Hernandez said, noting that he was frustrated when Cruz criticized Democrats and the media in his responses. “I’m like, can you just answer the question? Where are you? What are you bringing to the table?”
A Cruz spokesperson did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment on Saturday. In addition, an automated message from his Senate office said his voicemail was full.
Hernandez told Insider that if politicians continue to avoid action against mass shootings, “we need to confront them.”
“The time is now,” Hernandez said. “They’ll always say, ‘This isn’t the time’… But you know what, it’s the time. Now it’s time to stop the next one.”
Read the original article on Insider
