Ted Cruz Roasted For Declaring Banks the Model For Preventing Mass Shootings Days Ahead of Deadly Bank Shooting

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) received a bevy of criticism this week over a 10-day-old tweet in which he referenced armed security at banks as a model for how to prevent mass shootings – like the one at a bank in Louisville on Monday.

On March 31, Cruz tweeted, “Yesterday, I reintroduced the Securing Our Schools Act and the Protect Our Children’s Schools Act.”

“Sadly, Senate Democrats played politics and blocked these two critical school safety bills,” Cruz added above a statement, which read:

When you go to the bank and you deposit money in the bank, there are armed police officers at the bank. Why? Because we want to protect the money we save. Why on earth do we protect a stupid deposit more than our children?

We have an opportunity right now to double the police officers on campus and keep kids safe.

After the Monday shooting, in which a 25-year-old former bank employee used an AR-15 to kill five employees and injured many others including police officers, Cruz’s tweet saw renewed interest and went viral online.

As of Tuesday, the tweet received nearly 10 million views as critics shared it and offered scorn for the Texas Republican.

Brian Tyler Cohen shared the tweet, writing, “Aged like milk in the sun.”

Podcast host Brian Beutler replied, “Bank you say?”

“Ted says banks are safe from mass shootings because of the armed guards. Just days later, a mass shooting happens at a bank where 5 people are killed and more injured, including a responding officer who was shot in the head. The gun used was, as usual, an AR-15,” wrote author Scott Santens. “IT’S THE GUNS.”

Parkland survivor and gun reform activist David Hogg screenshotted the tweet and bookmarked it incase Cruz deleted. “This is his original tweet… screenshot for when he deletes it,” Hogg wrote.

Below are some additional reactions:

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