The exchange took place Thursday, May 26, two days after an 18-year-old killed 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, former supporter of Donald Trump and influential member of the Republican Party, participated in a vigil in tribute to the victims.
He has repeatedly said that he is opposed to any regulation of firearms and is campaigning for the police to be armed in schools to prevent massacres.
Questioned by a British journalist, Mark Stone, who asked him why mass shootings are so frequent in the United States, Ted Cruz quickly kicked in touch, visibly annoyed by his insistent questions. Here is the transcript of their conversation:
Mark Stone : “Is it time to reform gun laws?
Ted Cruz : – It’s easy to get into politics
Mark Stone : – But it’s important, it’s the heart of the matter
Ted Cruz : – I understand this is where the media likes to go
Mark Stone : – No, that’s where a lot of people we’ve interacted with want to go
“Why only in America?”
US Senator Ted Cruz walks away from @Stone_SkyNews after being asked if “this is the moment to reform gun laws” https://t.co/d2oBaP4KvW#TedCruz #America #Texasshooting #gunlaws pic.twitter.com/gL4TYeg04t
— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 26, 2022
Ted Cruz : – The proposals of the Democrats and the media, inevitably, when a violent psychopath murders people…
Mark Stone : – A violent psychopath who is able to get a gun so easily, an 18-year-old with two AR-15s
Ted Cruz : – No proposal from the Democrats would have prevented what happened
Mark Stone : – But why does this only happen in your country? I really think that’s what a lot of people in the world can’t understand, why only in America? Why is the American exception so terrible?
Ted Cruz : I’m sorry that you find this exception so horrible (…) You have your political agenda. God loves you.”
Ted Cruz then moves away from the journalist, who continues to press him with questions. The senator stops to answer him: “Why do people come from all over the world to America? It’s the freest, most prosperous, safest country on Earth. And stop being a propagandist,” he lets go.
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