Social media responds to Ted Cruz's solution of having more armed police officers in schools

Per Sky News, an earlier police account claimed that Ramos was "engaged" by an armed school resource officer after entering the school campus. However, South Texas's regional director for the TDPS told reporters on Thursday (May 26) that "he was not confronted by anybody" and there was not an armed officer at the school at the time of the massacre. Steve McGraw, director of TDPS, said at a press conference on Friday that "sometimes witnesses get it wrong". "The bottom line is the officer was not on scene, not on campus, but drove immediately to the area," McGraw added.

Social media users have responded to Ted Cruz's solution of having more armed police officers in school, following the deadly school shooting that occurred on Tuesday.

As reported by ABC News, Uvalde High School student Salvador Ramos allegedly purchased two assault rifles just days after turning 18 and used them to carry out a mass shooting in Robb Elementary School - all within the span of eight days.

After 19 children and two teachers were murdered at the Texas elementary school by Ramos, the state’s 51-year-old senator, Cruz, suggested that schools would be safer if there were only one door to enter in and out.

"One of the things that everyone agreed is don’t have all of these unlocked back doors. Have one door into and out of the school and have armed police officers at that door," he told Fox News Wednesday.

Watch Cruz's interview below:

The senator accused the Democrat party of "empty political posturing" after the tragedy and said that they blocked legislation he introduced in 2013 that would spend $300 million on federal grants to "harden schools to make them safer" with advancements like armed police officers, bulletproof doors and glass.

"If that had happened," Cruz said, "if those federal grants had gone to this school when that psychopath arrived, the armed police officers could have taken him out. And we’d have 19 children and two teachers still alive."

Online users reacted quickly after the senator shared his interview on the social media platform and tweeted the caption: "Enough is enough. We need to act by hardening school security and hiring armed police officers to keep our kids safe."

One person replied under his tweet and said: "We need to ban automatic weapons, not arm schools. Ridiculous. Other countries DO NOT have this issue."

Another person stated: "If police officers weren't able to stop the shooter yesterday then what the hell [makes] you think that hiring [armed police officers] will keep our kids safe?"

Grammy Award-winning musician John Legend commented on Cruz's solution and said: "Evil nonsense. The answer for the NRA and its toadies like Ted is ALWAYS that we need MORE guns. They’d rather 'harden' our schools than deal with the problem. We already have the most guns in the world."

Laura Bassett, the Editor-in-Chief of Jezebel had to remind the senator that armed police were already present: "The shooter got past actual armed police on the scene and made it into the school anyway."

The Republican senator also walked off after Sky News US correspondent Mark Stone questioned him about gun crime across the United States at a vigil held for the victims on Wednesday evening.

Cruz said to Stone: "If you want to stop violent crime - the proposals the Democrats have? None of them would have stopped this."

Then Stone responded: "But why does this only happen in your country? I really think that's what many people around the world just... they cannot fathom. Why only in America? Why is this American exceptionalism so awful?"

Clearly frustrated, Cruz concludes: "You know, I'm sorry you think American exceptionalism is awful. You've got your political agenda. God loves you."

Cruz then walked away from Stone, effectively ending the interview.

Featured image credit: Bob Daemmrich / Alamy.