Ted Cruz says injured Santa Fe students told him 'don’t take our guns'

Ted Cruz said students injured in the Santa Fe shooting told him "don’t take our guns."

See Santa Fe High School a day after the tragedy. Ted Cruz said students injured in the Santa Fe shooting told him "don’t take our guns."

See Santa Fe High School a day after the tragedy. Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 42 Caption Close Ted Cruz says injured Santa Fe students told him 'don’t take our guns' 1 / 42 Back to Gallery

Both Santa Fe and Parkland have roused the nation to seek answers in a decades-long crisis of mass shootings.

But to the dismay of the media, Ted Cruz says, the victims of each school shooting don't agree on a solution.

In an interview with The Daily Signal, Cruz said he visited Santa Fe High School students at the hospital and asked them what could be done to make schools safer.

"Out of a dozen students who just hours earlier had been in this shooting, every one of them said the answer is not gun control," Cruz said. "They said, 'don't take our guns.' They said 'if you take our guns, it won't make us safer, it will just mean the killers and murderers have guns.'"

Cruz said students floated the idea of more metal detectors at school, more police officers, and arming teachers.

ROUNDUP: How Texas' top lawmakers are explaining the Santa Fe shooting

"Those are the ideas that the students were suggesting," Cruz said. "Now I will say, it's fairly striking that, you look at the mainstream media, CNN, after the Parkland shooting, it was round-the-clock coverage of the students calling for aggressive gun control because that happens to be the political agenda of most of the media."

"In this case, where the students aren't calling for that, suddenly the media isn't interested in covering it," Cruz said.

It's true, Santa Fe students have differed on ways to prevent further school shootings. Some of them voiced their opinions on Twitter following the tragedy.

Let's get this out of the way , in NO way could this have been stopped by a gun reform or a gun ban , remember he was carrying an illegal firearm and illegal explosives, this is a parenting issue and a mental issue ,stop talking guns and let's talk CHANGE #SantaFeStrong — Zach Divin (@DivinZach) May 21, 2018

as a sfhs student, all i can ask you to do is vote for gun reform. you have the power to help prevent these things. thank you for your prayers, but we need action as well. https://t.co/8owPOO5RKl — bree 💚💛 (@breebxtler) May 18, 2018

"The Parkland playbook doesn't work in Santa Fe," reported Amber Jamieson for Buzzfeed News after speaking to several Santa Fe High School students.

"The [March for Our Lives] members quickly realized their limitations in a rural community where most students told BuzzFeed News they haven't heard of, followed, or supported the movement," wrote Jamieson, " ... a stark difference from the widespread energy for change the Parkland teens created after the shooting at their school, thanks to their ferocity on Twitter and relentless engagement with the media."

Great reporting from @ambiej: Santa Fe, Texas is a conservative small town that went 78% for Trump in 2016. It's a reminder that how communities respond to these shootings differs wildly—and the "Parkland playbook" won't always work. https://t.co/wKhvWurqtk — Lily Herman (@lkherman) May 23, 2018

BY THE NUMBERS: What Texans think causes mass shootings and what they get wrong

Still, the notion that Texas' youth differ drastically from out-of-state peers when it comes to gun control reform is disingenuous.

A University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll from October 2017 shows 58 percent of Texas youngest generation, ages 18-29, believe gun control laws should be more strict.

A more recent poll by Quinnipiac University conducted last month, found 57 percent of Texans, ages 18-34 support, support stricter gun laws in the U.S.

In fact, across all ages, 55 percent of Texans believe in stricter gun laws, per the same Quinnipiac poll that surveyed some 1,000 respondents.

"Throw away the stereotypes. Texas voters are in favor of tighter gun laws by a solid 14-point margin, and fully 94 percent favor background checks for all gun buyers," wrote a Quinnipiac poll analyst.

'TOO DAMN MANY': Ted Cruz speaks out in wake of Santa Fe shooting

With or without CNN, those figures are only likely to increase in support of gun reform.

Joshua Blank, manager of polling and research at the Texas Politics Project where the University of Texas/Texas Tribune polls are conducted, told the Texas Tribune the increase in mass shootings will make the possibility of gun control measures more likely.

"With each one of these shootings, what you tend to see is a major uptick in attitudes in favor of greater gun restrictions," Blank said. "With each additional tragedy, there tends to be more people who further embrace the possibility of more gun restrictions."

To see one solution that doesn't involve making gun laws more or less strict, check out the Houston Chronicle Editorial Board on why parents with firearms should play more of an active role in securing their weapons.

Fernando Ramirez is a reporter for Chron.com and the Houston Chronicle. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93.