Texas Senator Ted Cruz used armed officers at banks as an example of implementing more firearms to increase safety on school campuses, 10 days before the Louisville bank shooting.
On 31 March, just days after The Covenant School shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, Mr Cruz (R-TX) posted an image on Twitter where he compared firearms present at banks to the need for firearms at schools to prevent school shootings.
“When you go to the bank and you deposit money in the bank, there are armed police officers at the bank. Why? Because we want to protect the money we save. Why on earth do we protect a stupid deposit more than our children?” The image read.
“We have an opportunity right now to double the police officers on campus and keep kids safe,” Mr Cruz’s statement continued.
Mr Cruz used the example to re-introduce two bills, the Securing Our Schools Act and the Protect Our Children’s Schools Act.
However, Mr Cruz’s example of banks being physically secure did not age well. Six people were shot dead and eight others were injured in a shooting at Old National Bank on Monday.
Mr Cruz’s Twitter post was mocked with replies after the tragic shooting.
Fred Guttenberg, a gun control activist whose 14-year-old daughter Jamie died in Parkland School Shooting, tweeted: “Ted, because of your ongoing bull**** & refusal to deal with guns, this is the reality for all, including law enforcement.”
The Independent has reached out to Mr Cruz’s office for comment.
As mass shootings become more deadly, Mr Cruz, and many other Republicans, have offered solutions to solving the issue besides enacting stronger gun control legislation.
Mr Cruz has proposed better access to mental health resources, limiting multi-door access in schools, and adding more armed law enforcement officers as potential solutions to decrease the number of mass shootings at schools.
The bills Mr Cruz re-introduced on 30 March mark the second time the senator has introduced them in Congress. Both include allocating funding to help schools better prepare themselves for mass shootings.
The Securing Our Schools Act provides funding for schools to increase safety tools including alarm systems, metal detectors, surveillance technology, “ballistic safety equipment for schools and responding law enforcement officers,” and more. It also includes funding for mental health professionals on school campuses.
The Protect Our Children’s School Act uses funding allocated to schools intended for Covid-19 relief to fund making schools more “physically secure.”
