Cruz to talk gun rights at Iowa shooting range

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will defend gun rights at a shooting range in Iowa on Friday, days after a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., that is raising worries about both terrorism and gun violence.

Cruz’s visit to the CrossRoads Shooting Sports in Johnston, Iowa was scheduled before the San Bernardino shootings, campaign spokesman Rick Tyler said Friday. The event was reported by The New York Times.

{mosads}Tyler added that the 2016 Republican White House hopeful never discussed re-booking the event following the incident two day ago.

The New York Times reported that Cruz is launching his campaign’s “Second Amendment Coalition” during Friday’s speech. The group has signed on more than 24,000 people who support the right to bear arms.

Cruz’s stop in Iowa comes as his campaign experiences a surge in national voter support, according to a poll released Friday.

The CNN/ORC sampling ranks Cruz second in the 2016 Republican race, with 16 percent backing from Republicans and Republican-leaning voters.

It added that the Texas lawmaker’s support has risen 12 points since a similar analysis in October, edging out retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

Wednesday’s firearm bloodshed in California has renewed national debate over gun control laws and their impact on violent crime.

Police killed two suspects that evening — later identified Syed Farook, 28, and his wife Tashfeen Malik, 27 — during an officer-involved shootout in Redlands, Calif.

Cruz raised the possibility that the married couple had ties with jihadist extremism during a speech Thursday.

“All of us are deeply concerned that this is yet another manifestation of terrorism, of radical Islamic terrorism here at home,” he said at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s candidates’ forum in Washington, D.C.

“Coming in the wake of the terror attack here in Paris, this horrific murder underscores we are at a time of war,” Cruz continued, referencing a Nov. 13 attack in the French capital perpetrated by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. 

“Whether or not the current administration realizes it or is willing to acknowledge it, our enemies are at war with us,” he added.

Cruz is now pressuring the Obama administration into releasing Farook and Malik’s immigration history following their alleged attack. Cruz and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) are specifically seeking immigration history regarding the couple’s parents and their nuptials.

Syed Farook was reportedly born in Illinois, and traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet his wife.