Ted Cruz: Stopping gun violence could help Elizabeth Warren become president

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) warned on Thursday that congressional action to stop gun violence would not stop mass murders, would demoralize the nation, and could elect Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) president.

Speaking at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast, Cruz was asked about background checks and discussions between the Trump administration and a bipartisan group of Senators.

Cruz warned that any such action could cost Trump re-election. “Republicans abandon the Second Amendment and demoralize millions of Americans who care deeply about Second Amendment rights, that could go a long way to electing a President Elizabeth Warren,” he predicted.

Cruz then falsely claimed that there are no examples of mass shootings where the shooter obtained the gun through a private transaction to circumvent background checks, commonly known as the “gun show loophole.”

“It would also be a serious mistake as a policy matter. The Democrats’ proposal would not have prevented any of these mass murders. We ought to be focusing seriously, substantively on how you stop these horrific crimes and what they’re proposing wouldn’t do it,” Cruz claimed.

But even Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) — an ally who Cruz has backed — admitted last week that recent mass shootings in Odessa and Midland, Texas, might have been prevented by a universal background check law. The shooter reportedly failed a background check, but then obtained an assault-style rifle through a private transaction. He shot and killed seven people, including a 17-month-old girl, and injured many more.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) reportedly told NBC News on Thursday that he had changed his position on background checks in light of the Texas shooting.

Cruz put out a statement following the shootings saying he and his wife were “lifting up in prayer all the victims, their families, and the entire Midland-Odessa community.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.