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Uvalde in the US state of Texas.
A small town in shock and grief after the recent school shooting in the United States that left 21 dead.
It's the deadliest since 2012 at Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School, when 26 people died.
The people in Uvalde mourn the 19 girls and boys who the 18-year-old gunman shot dead before he was killed by the police himself.
Here, in this elementary school.
George Rodriguez, Grandfather
“This is Jose Flores.
Show it to the state, to the whole country, to the world.
When he died, I died with him.
You don't know if it's a criminal until he commits an act.
Why are you giving this guy a gun?
And he goes off and shoots little kids?
This has happened too many times.
And now it happened to us.
That has to stop!"
Just a four-hour drive away, the annual convention of the powerful NRA gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, began Friday -- whose attendees were greeted by angry and desperate protests.
Matthew, protester
“We feel like the walking dead.
Any one of us could be the next victim of one of those mass shootings.”
Adrienne, 8 years old
»I'm afraid to go back to school.
I don't want to be next.
I want to have a life and not just die.«
Inside, meanwhile, the latest gun models are examined on more than 50,000 square meters - by old and young visitors alike.
It is estimated that there are more guns than people in the US (Source: Small Arms Survey, 2017).
Most recently there were 121 weapons for every 100 inhabitants.
Reporter:
"What do you think about the protests outside?"
Convention attendee:
“You have the right to do that.
As long as they don't incite any kind of violence or cause problems for the convention-goers.
I do not see a problem there.
We all have the right to say what we believe in.«
A former US President also used this right: Donald Trump.
To ingratiate himself with potential future voters, he shared with gun fans how he would react to the recent school massacre.
Donald Trump, former US President
»Each (school) building should only have one entrance.
There should be secure fencing, metal detectors and the use of new technology to ensure that no unauthorized person is ever armed with a weapon.”
Other demands: bulletproof doors, lockable classrooms, and:
Donald Trump, former US President:
"Starting today, every school in America should have a police officer or armed security guard on duty at all times."
Trump spoke out explicitly against gun bans.
On the contrary: Teachers should also be allowed to carry concealed weapons.
The most recent massacre in Uvalde shows that more armament is not necessarily an effective means against such attacks.
Texas police and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott have come under fire for the fact that the first officers arrived at the school minutes after the perpetrator.
But that it took 50 minutes for the police to break into the classroom and shoot the perpetrator.
Democratic politician Beto O'Rourke also spoke out in favor of stricter gun laws during the protests against the NRA congress in Houston.
Beto O'Rourke
Politician, Democratic Party
“We want to make sure that no parent ever has to go through the hardest thing that can happen again.
What the parents in Uvalde are going through right now.
Action is the antidote to despair.
It's the key to victory.
And it's necessary if we're ever going to change anything.
Are you ready to act?
But the fronts on the issue of gun ownership in the United States will probably remain hardened even after this tragedy.
In any case, the proponents should never tire of justifying gun ownership with arguments like this:
NRA Convention Attendee:
“Guns are not malicious.
People who commit a crime are malicious.«
