Texas Senator Ted Cruz recently offered a solution to school shootings: post as many armed police officers in schools as there are in banks.
A shooter opened fire at a bank in Kentucky less than two weeks later, killing at least five people and injured eight more.
“You know, when you go to the bank, and you deposit money in the bank, there are armed police officers at the bank. Why? Because we want to protect the money we save. Why on earth do we protect a stupid deposit more than our children?” Cruz said on March 30.
“We have an opportunity right now to double the police officers on campus and keep kids safe,” Cruz added.
On March 31, he reiterated the comment in a tweet.
Cruz’s proposed school safety law, which he has been pushing for months, was blocked in the Senate on March 30.
The senator’s assertion that banks are safe and secure came only days before a 25-year-old bank employee opened fire on his coworkers.
Cruz has already proposed highly derided ideas for reducing gun violence.
Following the school shootings in Uvalde, Texas, in which a shooter killed 21 people, Cruz suggested an unusual idea for reducing school shootings: having a “single point of entry” at schools.
“Fire exits should only open out. At that single point of entry, we should have multiple armed police officers or, if need be, military veterans trained to provide security and keep our children safe,” Cruz said in an interview with Fox News on May 27.
Cruz was booed at an Austin festival in September after making statements about gun control. At the festival, Cruz claimed that violence “is actually the only thing” that may help prevent violence, a frequent right-wing talking point popularized by the National Rifle Association.
Cruz declined to cancel his speech at the NRA’s leadership meeting in Houston just days after the Uvalde massacre. To justify his choice, he told CBS News that the NRA “stands up for your rights, my rights, and the rights of every American.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Texas has the highest firearm fatality rate of any state, with 4,164 fatalities caused by firearm in 2020.