Trump to speak at NRA event in Texas after Uvalde school shooting

Former President Donald Trump will deliver a headline speech in support of gun rights at a National Rifle Association event in Houston on Friday, days after a shooting massacre at a Texas elementary school stoked a fervent push to strengthen firearm laws.

An 18-year-old gunman — wielding an AR-15-style long rifle that he had purchased legally — opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, killing 19 children and two adults, officials said. The massacre marked the deadliest school shooting in Texas history.

Trump confirmed on social media on Wednesday afternoon that he would not cancel his appearance at the NRA’s annual “Leadership Forum” in light of the shooting. He suggested that he would offer “real solutions and real leadership” in his address at the NRA’s self-described “celebration of Second Amendment rights.”

Other leading Republicans including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem are set to join Trump at the event, which starts at 2 p.m. CT, according to the NRA.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who had been slated to appear alongside Trump on Friday afternoon, will instead make a return trip to Uvalde and hold a press conference, his office said Thursday. Abbott will record a video message to be played at the Houston convention center, a less-than-five-hour drive away from the site of the massacre, NBC News reported.

A spokesperson for Cruz did not respond to CNBC’s requests to confirm his attendance at the meeting. Asked about Abbott’s reported video remarks, spokeswoman Kimberly Carmichael referred CNBC to the governor’s campaign, which did not immediately respond.

Two other Texas Republicans, Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Dan Crenshaw, told CNBC earlier this week that they had backed out of the conference prior to the Uvalde shooting.

Cornyn had an “unexpected change in his schedule” and “has to be in D.C. for personal reasons on Friday,” Cornyn spokeswoman Natalie Yezbick said in an email Wednesday.

Justin Discigil, Crenshaw’s chief of staff, said that the congressman is unable to make it back from Kyiv, Ukraine, in time to attend the event.

Noem will speak at the forum, a spokesman for the governor confirmed to CNBC. North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is also scheduled to speak at the event.

Noem, in a promotional video shared on the NRA’s social media over the weekend, paraphrased a quote from Charlton Heston, the late actor and former NRA leader: “Joe Biden, I’ll give you my gun when you pry it from my cold dead hands.”

President Joe Biden, who criticized the “gun lobby” in a somber speech Tuesday night, will travel to Uvalde on Sunday with first lady Jill Biden to “grieve with the community,” the White House said.

An NRA spokeswoman did not immediately confirm who would speak at Friday’s event.

In a statement Wednesday, the NRA gave its “deepest sympathies” to the victims and families affected by the “horrific and evil crime.” The group said it would “pledge to redouble our commitment to making our…