Ted Cruz was left flustered and stormed off an interview as a journalist confronted him and asked why mass shootings are an American problem.

The Republican senator was at a vigil alongside Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, remembering those lost during the recent Robb Elementary School shooting.

Cruz – who received $176,274 (£140,000) from the National Riffle Association up to 2019 – was then confronted by Sky News journalist Mark Stone.

He cornered Mr Cruz and asked him whether it was time for a change in gun laws in the United States.

Between 2009 and 2018, there were 288 school shootings in the US – the next highest number was in Mexico, where there were eight.

Both Ted Cruz and Governor Greg Abbott have been staunch allies of liberal gun laws in the US, which Democrats say fuel the problem of mass shootings in US schools.

They were not met with a frosty reception in Texas, partly because of the state’s traditional backing for gun ownership, which is enshrined in the second amendment.

When asked by Mark Stone why American exceptionalism was ‘so awful’, Cruz hit back.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser thatsupports HTML5video

He told Sky News: ‘You know, I’m sorry you think American exceptionalism is awful. You’ve got your political agenda. God love you.’ 

After repeatedly being told ‘You can’t answer that’ by Stone, Cruz turned and said: ‘Why is it that people come from all over the world to America? Because it’s the freest, most prosperous, safest country on Earth. Stop being a propagandist.

‘You know, it’s easy to go to politics.

‘Inevitably, when some violent psychopath murders people, if you want to stop violent crime, the proposals the Democrats have — none of them would have stopped this.’

‘There are 19 sets of parents who are never going to get to kiss their child tonight.’

The Texas senator then stormed out of the interview and left the scene.

Republicans like Governor Abbott don’t see gun laws as the issue.

He instead blamed the massacre on the mental health of gunman Salvador Ramos.

During a later interview Cruz, echoed this sentiment when talking to CNN, saying: ‘Inevitably when there’s a murderer of this kind, you see politicians try to politicise it, you see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law abiding citizens.’ 

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Source: Read Full Article