In a viral video circulating the web, Ted Cruz walked away from a British reporter who asked about the frequency of mass shootings in the U.S.
In the clip, Sky News reporter Mark Stone grills Cruz two days after the second-deadliest mass shooting at a school, which took place at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, while the senator from Texas was attending a vigil.
After Cruz said that “there are 19 sets of parents who are never going to get to kiss their child good night again,” the reporter then asked if now was “the moment to reform gun laws.” Cruz then said that it’s “easy to go to politics” and that it’s “where the media likes to go.”
“The proposals from Democrats and the media, inevitably, when some violent psychopath murders people,” Cruz began, before Stone interjected that the 18-year-old alleged shooter was “able to get a weapon so easily.”
“If you want to stop violent crime, the proposals the Democrats have, none of them would have stopped this,” Cruz said.
Stone later asked the senator why it “only happen[s] in your country,” before Cruz walked off to greet other people. Reporters then continued to follow Cruz, who closed with “why is it that people come from all over the world to America? This is the freest, most prosperous, safest country on Earth. And stop being a propagandist.”
The exchange comes as Cruz blamed violent video games, prescription drugs, social media, and more for shootings during a speech to National Rifle Association members on Friday, just days after an 18-year-old gunman, identified as Salvador Ramos, shot and killed 19 children and two teachers.
“We know that many of these who seek to commit the most heinous crimes, they’re isolated from human contact,” Cruz said. “They’re living a virtual life in the absence of community of community and faith and love.”
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