Trump was shot. Republicans still say guns aren’t the problem.

MILWAUKEE — Republicans have blamed an array of people and dynamics for the attempted assassination of Donald Trump — Democrats’ rhetoric, Secret Service lapses, the gunman’s mental health. One thing they haven’t blamed is guns.

In Milwaukee, where the GOP gathered to nominate Trump this week, the party remains steadfast in its opposition to overhauling state and federal policies regulating firearms, like the AR-15 rifle Trump’s shooter used on Saturday.

“The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. That son of a bitch is now dead because a good guy with a gun shot him, so let’s keep that in mind,” Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) said at an event hosted Tuesday by the U.S. Concealed Carry Association on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention. “The insinuation that we’re going to just eradicate this country of guns is a ridiculous one, so you better arm yourself accordingly.”

Interviews with more than a dozen delegates and convention guests this week show that as much as the attempt on Trump’s life has rattled the GOP, it has not shaken its core belief that that the best response to mass shootings is increased mental health resources and physical security measures, including metal detectors, police officers and armed teachers in schools.

The Republican Party has long aligned itself with the National Rifle Association and regards guns as an integral part of its platform and culture. The NRA is an official sponsor of the convention and is co-hosting several events around Milwaukee this week, organization spokesperson Nick Perrine confirmed.

Convention delegates, including members of Congress, governors and state lawmakers, are raising concern about seemingly lax security precautions at Saturday’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania and asking why the Secret Service hadn’t better secured the rooftop near the event.

“I know that there are a lot of brave men and women wearing the uniform, a lot of brave men and women that represent Secret Service who are working diligently to avoid that,” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said from his delegation’s section on the convention floor. “But for an individual to get that close on a rooftop to the former and next president of the United States, there was clearly a failure.”

Democrats have raised similar concerns about security lapses and called for investigations, and President Joe Biden on Tuesday renewed calls for a ban on AR-15 rifles. But typical calls from Democrats for new gun restrictions have been more muted than usual in the wake of Saturday's shooting.

As president, Trump loosened gun restrictions on hunting and fishing on public land, declared gun shops and shooting ranges “essential services” during the pandemic and appointed more than 200 federal judges with conservative views on the Second Amendment. But he encouraged states to pass so-called red flag laws, which allow people to seek a court order to prevent dangerous individuals from obtaining guns. His administration also banned bump stocks, a firearm attachment that enables semi-automatic weapons to function like machine guns.

Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita, speaking to the U.S. Concealed Carry Association, said the Saturday shooting was “separate” from the campaign’s message to “make America safe again,” the theme of the convention Tuesday. He said the Trump campaign would continue “supporting and defending the Second Amendment,” particularly through the legal system.

“Something that’s very important to us from a campaign standpoint and an issue standpoint is allowing law-abiding citizens the ability to carry their firearms and protect themselves and their families, and that’s an issue that will always be an important one for the Republican Party,” LaCivita said.

And Randy Kozuch, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, said there “isn’t a single gun control law that could have prevented this heinous and cowardly attack,” including background checks on all gun sales and transfers.

Gun restriction advocates, meanwhile, argue that if Trump was serious about calling for unity, he would revisit his policies on the issue.

“In a country awash in guns, it’s clear that no one — including the former president — is safe, and we cannot allow gun violence and political violence to become normalized in this country,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the gun industry’s trade group, estimated that in 2020 there were 433.9 million firearms in civilian possession, about 100 million more than there are people living in the U.S.

In the wake of Saturday’s shooting, Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers appealed to the Secret Service to prohibit firearms in the area outside of security but directly adjacent to the convention site, though the agency said it did not plan to make any changes to the security plan. And the City of Milwaukee has failed in its attempts to restrict firearms in the area as well, as governments in Wisconsin are prohibited from enacting gun restrictions that are stricter than the state’s.

Wisconsin state Rep. Chuck Wichgers, a Republican, said that he believes in “local control” but not for “things that are constitutional,” when asked whether the legislature needs to revisit its laws restricting local government action on guns.

Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Monday said her agency would “participate fully” in an independent review ordered by Biden, as well as cooperate with “any oversight action” from Congress. Several committees in both the House and Senate are requesting a range of briefings, hearings and records on the shooting.

“There has to be hearings. We’ve got to get to the bottom of it. I mean, it’s a 150-yard shot. How do you get somebody with a long gun within 150 yards of the former president of the United States?” said Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.), who sits on the House Judiciary Committee. “With all the rhetoric we’ve been hearing, we knew that they were putting his life in danger.”

Hunt similarly told POLITICO that there is “absolutely” no reason to restrict guns after the assassination attempt. “We need to do a complete, full investigation and have full transparency with the American people on what happened here. No CIA, FBI cover up crap — like what actually happened,” he said.

Many non-elected official delegates feel the same. Renee Gentle Powers, a delegate from Clanton, Alabama, said she burst into tears upon hearing the news Saturday. But she described herself as “rock solid on the Second Amendment” and instead blamed the shooting on what she described as deteriorating culture in the U.S.

“I think what we’ve got to address is not the gun issue itself but the person. Unfortunately, in our culture today we’re not as spiritually grounded where we value life like we should,” Gentle Powers said. “Therefore, I do not blame results of guns on the guns themselves. I believe it’s the individuals that we’ve got to address.”

Kathy Aulson, a nurse, attorney and Texas delegate, said the Saturday shooting hit close to home because the man who was killed was sitting where she has sat at multiple Trump rallies. Still, she said, restricting guns isn’t the answer.

“Those of us that are law-abiding citizens won’t have guns, and those that aren’t law abiding will still have guns,” Aulson said. “You can’t do gun control.”