Former President Donald Trump said on Friday that Congress should prioritize funding for school security over military aid to Ukraine, with his remarks coming in the context of the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, in which a gunman shot 21 people to death.
“The terrible murder of 19 innocent children and two adult teachers, with many badly injured, was a savage and barbaric atrocity that shocks the conscience of every single American,” Trump said.
The shooting has renewed Democrat calls for stricter gun laws, while speakers at the NRA convention, including Trump, dismissed talk of curbs on firearms.
“Every time a disturbed or demented person commits such a hideous crime, there’s always a grotesque effort by some in our society to use the suffering of others to advance their own extreme political agenda,” Trump said.
“Clearly, we need to make it far easier to confine the violent and mentally deranged into mental institutions,” he added.
Trump then called for tougher security at the nation’s schools.
“Every building should have a single point of entry. There should be strong exterior fencing, metal detectors, and the use of new technology to make sure that no unauthorized individual can ever enter the school with a weapon,” he said.
The former president also called for classroom doors to be hardened and for every school in America to have a police officer or an armed rescue officer on duty at all times.
He also called for expanding funding, recruitment, and training at police departments, including rigorous training on active shooter protocols.
There has been criticism of the law enforcement response to the shooting after it was revealed there was a long delay from when police arrived on the scene to when they finally stormed the classroom where the gunman had barricaded himself.
“This is not a matter of money. This is a matter of will,” Trump said, adding that trillions of dollars were spent in Afghanistan and Iraq, and “we got nothing” in return.
“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,” Trump said.
“Before we nation-build the rest of the world, we should be building safe schools for our own children in our own nation,” Trump told the crowd, eliciting loud applause.
Congressional lawmakers voted earlier in May to send nearly $40 billion in military aid to Ukraine, bringing the total to around $54 billion since late February, when Russian forces launched their invasion.
