Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was recently confronted on a flight in Houston over his dismal record on supporting common-sense gun safety measures, even as the list of school shootings unfolding across the United States keeps growing.
The man who confronted Cruz posted video he took of the incident to his account on Twitter. Among other points of contention, the man behind the camera roasted the Senator for his involvement with his podcast, known as “Verdict.” “Senator, thank you for everything you’ve done since Uvalde,” the man said. “All those podcast episodes must have raised a lot of money for you.” Cruz replied by pointing to legislation he tried to get passed that evidently doesn’t actually hinge on gun safety measures. Instead, it features funding for safety personnel — meaning, in Cruz’s description, cops — and mental health professionals at schools. Law enforcement — in other words, some of the proverbial good guys with guns — were on the scene in Uvalde much earlier than anyone actually shot the gunman, who attacked an elementary school. Safety personnel were already there. It didn’t work.
“Just yesterday I tried to pass the most significant school safety bill that’s ever passed,” Cruz replied. The initiative he was referencing, which supported adding personnel to schools for addressing safety and mental health concerns, would have relied on funds originally meant for COVID-19 relief that remained unused. “You tried to pass it?” the man seemingly replied. “What were you doing? How did you have time when you were recording… podcast episodes?” Cruz rather quickly got flustered. Is he that aghast at the prospect of hearing criticism — delivered in a normal, levelheaded tone — from someone who might be a constituent? (The flight just landed in Houston at the time of the interaction.) “You don’t care about the facts. You’re a partisan. That’s okay,” Cruz told the man — who replied with what sounded like shock at Cruz seemingly implying he himself wasn’t a partisan. Watch it all below:
Senator Cruz was on my flight, and I asked him to name any of the Uvalde victims.
He couldn’t. Texas deserves better than spineless hacks like this. Right the wrongs of 2018, and make @betoorourke our next Governor. #betoforgovernor #cancuncrus #uvaldestrong pic.twitter.com/AW34oxuUNv
— Beto For Everyone (@Nathan_VBB) September 15, 2022
Earlier this year, Cruz voted against a bill passed in the aftermath of the Uvalde shooting that, among other components, bolstered the background check process for prospective gun purchasers under 21. (The shooter in Uvalde was 18.) The legislation demands “an investigative period to review juvenile and mental health records, including checks with state databases and local law enforcement, for buyers under 21 years of age,” according to a summary from the office of Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).
