O'Rourke to Join Protest Outside NRA Conference in Houston

Democratic Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke, who caused a ruckus when he disrupted a Wednesday press conference by Gov. Greg Abbott on the Uvalde grade school shooting, will make a next appearance on Friday at a rally outside the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) annual summit in Houston.

He will join  several organizations following the deadly school shooting in the South Texas community earlier this week, The Hill reported. It cited an O'Rourke campaign event page. 

O’Rourke and the organizations aim to “hold the NRA and the politicians they purchase accountable,” the page said. “This massacre and the too many others before it are totally predictable, direct consequences of the choices made by Greg Abbott and the majority of those in the Texas legislature.”

O’Rourke will join eight organizations, including March For Our Lives, which was organized following the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., the news website said.

The protest follows O’Rourke’s confrontation with  Abbott at a press conference in Uvalde. It should be noted, O’Rourke is challenging Abbott in November’s elections, and he urged the incumbent to cancel a scheduled appearance at the NRA event.

O'Rourke took heavy flak from conservative commentators who accused him of looking to score campaign points by exploiting the loss of 19 students and two teachers in the Uvalde shooting spree.