'Ted Cruz suggests more money for mental health workers' to family of Uvalde victim as they plea for ban on assault rifles

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz declined to support a ban on assault weapons Wednesday after the parents of a 10-year-old killed during the mass shooting in Uvalde showed him a photo of their daughter in her casket.

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Lexi Rubio was a fourth-grader from Uvalde, Texas, who died along with 20 others in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24. She was laid to rest at the Hillcrest Cemetery in Uvalde on June 11 after a funeral service at the First Baptist Church.

In total, 376 law enforcement officers responded to the shooting.

The parents of Lexi Rubio have pushed for stricter gun laws from Congress following their daughter's death. They discussed the same with Cruz during the meeting but were met with resistance.

"Felix shared our last photo of Lexi - in her child-size casket - as we asked @tedcruz to protect his constituents by supporting a federal ban on assault weapons. He declined. Instead, he said he supports increasing law enforcement presence on school campuses," she tweeted.

On Wednesday, Mata-Rubio and her husband Felix also met with other Republican senators, whom she said treated them more graciously.

“While they obviously, probably don’t support the bill, they just had more questions and were more sympathetic than our meeting with Ted Cruz,” Mata-Rubio told the Tribune. “That was really disheartening because this is our representative.”

Cruz has called for more armed law enforcement on school campuses following the shooting.

Cruz, an unflinching ally of the gun lobby, took more than $300,000 from firearms groups during his 2018 senate re-election campaign. He also voted against the bipartisan gun safety bill passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in the aftermath of the Uvalde shooting.

Later on Thursday, Senate Democrats blocked Cruz's proposed bill that would spend earmark billions of dollars worth of federal COVID-19 education-related funding for school security. The bill proposed doubling the number of school resource officers, hire mental health professionals, and make campus security improvements.

“The only reason my first bill, which would constitute the single most significant school safety legislation in our history, did not pass today is because (U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy) and the Democrats objected without any explanation or rebuttal," Cruz said in a statement. "It isn’t just irresponsible, it also shows contempt for the American people."

The families of the victims and survivors of the massacre have demanded action from Texas leaders on gun reform. More recently, they have requested billboards that take aim at Gov. Greg Abbott and his stance on gun control be erected.

With its lax gun laws, the United States has long experienced more mass shootings than any other industrialized country. Cruz is reportedly weighing another run for president in 2024, when he will also be up for re-election to the senate.