Thousands of people protested for gun control across the street from the annual National Rifle Association’s (NRA) convention in Texas on Friday (May 27), just days after the country’s latest mass shooting that killed 19 children and two adults.

According to LA Times, police set up metal barriers to prevent the protesters from crossing the street to confront convention attendees. But attendees occasionally crossed to interact with the protesters.

Former President Trump appeared at an afternoon forum at the convention alongside Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Several other Republican leaders from Texas had pulled out, including Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Dan Crenshaw. Gov. Greg Abbott appeared via video from Uvalde. Several musical acts also canceled, including conservative singer Lee Greenwood.

The speakers took the stage to denounce the recent massacre and insisted that restricting access to firearms was not the answer to preventing future tragedies. “The existence of evil in our world is not a reason to disarm law-abiding citizens,” said Trump. “The existence of evil is one of the very best reasons to arm law-abiding citizens.”

On Tuesday (May 24), Salvador Ramos entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas and opened fired killing 19 children and two teachers before he was fatally shot by an off-duty agent with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol Tactical Unit.

Trump blamed the shooting on “an out-of-control lunatic” and said school security needed to be stepped up, with armed guards at every facility, instead of restricting gun rights as President Joe Biden and other Democrats have suggested.

Outside the George R. Brown Convention Center, protesters held up signs – some with photos of the Uvalde shooting victims as they shouted “murderers!” and “shame on you!” at the attendees.

According to AP News, singer Little Joe, of the popular Tejano band Little Joe y La Familia, was among the protesters and he said in the more than 60 years he’s spent touring the world, no other country he’s been to has faced as many mass shootings as the U.S.