Texas Governor Greg Abbott will no longer be appearing in person at the National Rifle Association convention in Houston on Friday as the city braces for protests following the school massacre that killed 19 children on Tuesday.
Instead his office announced he would be holding a news conference in Uvalde, scene of the nation’s worst school massacre in a decade.
It comes after a string of performers announced they would not be appearing at the event’s Saturday night concert – throwing the event into doubt.
Lee Greenwood was the latest to announce he was pulling out.
‘As a father, I join the rest of America in being absolutely heartbroken by the horrific event that transpired this week in Texas,’ said the ‘God Bless the USA’ star.
‘I was scheduled to perform at NRA’s private event on Saturday with my band.
‘After thoughtful consideration, we have decided to cancel the appearance out of respect for those mourning the loss of those innocent children and teachers in Uvalde.’
Their absences will be a blow to organizers who hoped the weekend would strike an air of defiance as Democrats make a fresh gun control push after 21 people were shot dead at Robb Elementary School.
Abbott, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick are all scheduled to speak at the the event, as well as former President Donald Trump who said on Wednesday he still plans to attend.
There’s no word if Sen. Cruz and Lt. Gov. Patrick will still appear.
But Abbott will now send a pre-recorded statement instead of appearing in person. His office announced he would instead hold a news conference to will provide more information on resources available for those affected by the shooting.
In the meantime, Houston is bracing for protests
The NRA meeting is being held at the George R. Brown Convention Center, about a four-hour drive from Uvalde, where 19 children and two adults were killed by an 18-year-old gunman.
The event is drawing eerie parallels to the gun lobby group’s gathering in Denver 23 years ago following the deadly shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, where two students killed 12 fellow pupils and one teacher.
Actor Charlton Heston, then the president of the NRA, holding an Revolutionary War-era flintlock rifle over his head, told the 5,000-plus attendees on May 20, 2000, ‘I’ll give you my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.’
The remarks drew a standing ovation.
Denver’s mayor at the time, Wellington Webb, told Heston: ‘We don’t want you here,’ and even senior NRA leaders considered cancelling, according to audio released by NPR.
In the end, about 8,000 protesters gathered outside the Denver convention, which was cut from three days to one.
The conference in Houston, expected to be attended by more than 50,000 gun enthusiasts, will proceed, the gun group said.
‘Our deepest sympathies are with the families and victims involved in this horrific and evil crime,’ the NRA said in a statement. ‘As we gather in Houston, we will reflect on these events, pray for the victims, recognize our patriotic members and pledge to redouble our commitment to making our schools secure.’
Outrage has exploded over the scheduled event, with gun-control advocates and any on the left calling for the event to be cancelled.
Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss demanded the group dissolve, reportedly saying, ‘The NRA has blood on its hands. It must be disbanded,’ he said.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, a Democrat, was critical of the plans but said that the convention will continue due to contractual obligations.
‘That convention has been on the books for more than two years,’ Turner said during a public meeting. ‘It’s a contractual arrangement and so we simply cannot cancel a conference or convention because we may not agree with the subject matter.’
Though, Turner waded into the political controversy over politicians attending the event.
‘I do not think that the governor or U.S. Senator Ted Cruz or any other congressperson going sends the right message,’ he said.
‘It’s about elected officials at the highest levels of our state going and speaking and endorsing those policies. And that’s wrong. And you can’t pray and send condolences on one day and then going and championing guns the next.’
Despite the mayor’s promise that the event would continued, gun-control groups continued their calls for the gathering to be cancelled.
Protests were planned to start on Friday by groups like Black Lives Matter Houston, Indivisible Houston, the Harris County Democratic Party, Moms Demand Action, immigration group FIEL Houston, the League of United Latin American Citizens, Move On and others.
Houston police said that they are taking steps to accommodate both the convention and the protests against it.
‘We always are aware of the demonstrations and-or counter-demonstrations and staff accordingly,’ police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said. ‘We staff accordingly to make sure that everyone can participate and be safe.’
The conference will feature former President Donald Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem. They are scheduled to speak on Friday during a session discussing gun legislation.
For his part, Trump said that there was no contradiction in attending the event after the school slaughter.
America needs real solutions and real leadership in this moment, not politicians and partisanship,’ Trump said in a statement.
‘That’s why I will keep my longtime commitment to speak in Texas at the NRA Convention and deliver an important address to America. In the meantime, we all continue to pray for the victims, their families and our entire nation – we are all in this together.’
Meanwhile, other prominent Texas leaders are on the fence or not attending.
Texas Congressman Dan Crenshaw was scheduled to attend, but says he had to cancel because he will be traveling to Ukraine.
Texas Senator John Cornyn, who was supposed to attend, said he will be in Washington, D.C. because of an ‘unexpected change in his schedule’ on a personal matter, the Tribune reported.
Famous American performance and ‘American Pie’ singer Don McLean dropped out.
‘I have decided it would be disrespectful and hurtful for me to perform,’ he said in a statement. ‘I’m sure all the folks planning to attend this event are shocked and sickened by these events as well.’
Trump won the state of Texas in the 2020 presidential election, but Biden beat him by 13 points in Harris County, which surrounds Houston.
Ashton Woods, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Houston, told Bloomberg, that fact makes the NRA’s decision to go forward with their event all the more offensive.
‘There’s some audacity to be having that convention in the City of Houston, and it’s a slap in the face to Texans not just because of what happened (Tuesday) but because once upon a time, Harris County was deeply conservative, and that’s not the case anymore.’
Black Lives Matter Houston said that they will use the event as a ‘mass voter registration event.’
‘We’re not there to incite anything, we’re just there to make the (NRA) uncomfortable and run them out of Houston,’ Woods said.
‘Houston is the most diverse city in the United States and we have people from all over the world who do not agree with the rhetoric of the NRA,’ Megan Hansen, an interfaith protest organizer told the Guardian.