By Scott Wong and Frank ThorpV -
NBC News
Former President Donald Trump will participate this Friday in an event of the annual convention of the National Rifle Association (NRA, for its acronym in English), which will take place in Houston, Texas, just three days after the shooting in Uvalde where 21 people died .
The conference at which Trump will speak, along with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, will discuss constitutional protections that guarantee the right to bear arms.
The shooting, however, has ignited political and social protests demanding Congress pass laws limiting the sale of military assault rifles and tightening criminal background checks when allowing gun purchases.
Trump, at an event of the National Rifle Association in April 2019. Michael Conroy / AP
The leader of the Democratic majority of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, said Wednesday that he will not take a couple of bills on background checks already approved by the House of Representatives (with a Democratic majority) to a vote for now, to give time to the congressmen to negotiate an agreement, which he sees as possible but unlikely due to the Republican opposition and despite the shootings.
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"My fellow Republicans can work with us now. I know it's a slim, slim, too slim chance, we've been burned too many times already, but this is very important," Schumer told a Senate plenary session.
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Other Democrats, such as Sen. Richard Blumenthal, want to move the legislation to a vote immediately, thus putting on record the opposition of their Republican colleagues.
But after Schumer's announcement, the issue will likely be deferred until after Congress recesses for Memorial Day weekend.
The Democratic leader, however, took steps that give him the option in the future to quickly bring the bill to the full Senate;
Democrats still lack the 10 Republican votes needed to defeat an attempt by that party to sabotage this measure.
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"I get it," Schumer said of calls for the Senate to vote on bills passed by the House.
“I think accountability votes are important.
But sadly, it's not that the American people don't know where their senators stand.
They know," he added.
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Noting that it was "unlikely" that the Democrats would receive substantial support from their Republican colleagues, Schumer encouraged American citizens to take this issue to the polls in the November midterm elections.
"You can vote for senators or members of the House who reflect your position on guns with this issue, this issue, at the top of the voters' lists," Schumer concluded.
