Gun control advocacy groups rally with Democratic members of Congress throughout of a press conference on the premises of the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, May 26, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Kent Nishimura|Los Angeles Times|Getty Images
Kimberly Rubio broke down in tears as she explained her 10- year-old child Lexi to a space filled with legislators who are weighing tighter weapon laws following the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, that took Lexi’s life in addition to 18 of her schoolmates and 2 instructors.
“We don’t want you to think of Lexi as just a number. She was intelligent, compassionate and athletic. She was quiet, shy unless she had a point to make,” Rubio stated Wednesday, weeping beside her spouse Felix at a hearing prior to the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
Parents, police and among Lexi’s schoolmates who endured that May 24 mass shooting affirmed prior to Congress about the Texas massacre in addition to one in Buffalo, New York, last month that left an integrated 31 Americans dead and frightened the country as the current examples of mass shootings performed by only teenage shooters.
“We understand that for some reason, to some people — to people with money, to people who fund political campaigns — that guns are more important than children,” Rubio continued. “Somewhere out there, there is a mom listening to our testimony thinking, ‘I can’t even imagine their pain,’ not knowing that our reality will someday be hers. Unless we act now.”
Robb Elementary trainee survivor Miah Cerrillo, 11, informed legislators she covered herself in a buddy’s blood and played dead throughout the May 24 shooting in Uvalde.
He “shot my teacher. Told my teacher, ‘Good night,’ and shot her in the head. And then he shot some of my classmates and the whiteboard,” Cerrillo stated in a tape-recorded question-and-answer series sent as statement. “He shot my friend who was next to me, and I thought he was going to come back to the room, so I got a little blood and I put it all over me.”
Asked if she feels safe at school, Cerrillo shook her head no. Pressed why not, she responded: “Because I don’t want it to happen again.”
Zeneta Everhart, mom of 20- year-old survivor Zaire Goodman, detailed the injuries suffered by her boy on May 14, when an 18- year-old shooter performed a racist rampage at a grocery store in Buffalo.
“To the lawmakers who feel that we do not need stricter gun laws: Let me paint a picture for you,” Everhart stated in her statement. “My son Zaire has a hole in the right side of his neck, two on his back and another on his left leg caused by an exploding bullet” from an AR-15 attack rifle.
“I want you to picture that exact scenario for one of your children,” she continued. “This should not be your story or mine.”
U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) speaks throughout a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on weapon violence on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. June 8, 2022.
Andrew Harnik|Reuters
Other witnesses consisted of Uvalde pediatricianDr Roy Guerrero, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia and Amy Swearer of The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
Gramaglia applauded retired Buffalo law enforcement officer Aaron Salter Jr., who shot– however was not able to stop– the 18- year-old shooter who utilized an AR-15 to eliminate 10 individuals in a primarily Black community inBuffalo Salter was amongst those shot to death.
“It is often said that a good guy with a gun will stop a bad guy with a gun. Aaron was the good guy and was no match for what he went up against: A legal AR-15 with multiple high-capacity magazines” the Buffalo authorities commissioner informed legislators.
“Assault weapons like the AR-15 are known for three things,” he continued, “how many rounds they fire, the speed at which they fire those rounds and body counts.”
Swearer, a legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, represented views supported by numerous Republicans, who in basic oppose brand-new laws that would make it even more tough to own attack rifles or high-capacity publications.
She stated the huge bulk of mass shooters are 21 or older, slamming what she classified as an incorrect, knee-jerk response amongst Democrats to promote sweeping policies after each mass shooting.
“Semi-automatic rifles are the type of firearm least often used to commit acts of gun violence,” Swearer stated. “The context in which mass shootings occur renders magazine limits effectively useless at saving lives. Eighteen to 20-year-olds are legal adults otherwise endowed with all of the rights and duties of citizenship including the right to keep and bear arms.”
The hearing comes simply hours prior to the more comprehensive chamber is anticipated to vote on a suite of more stringent weapon laws jointly called the Protecting Our Kids Act.
The Democratic House will look for to pass legislation Wednesday afternoon that raises the age at which an individual might buy an attack rifle to 21 from 18, disallow the sale of large-capacity publications and produce brand-new guidelines for saving guns in the houses.
Even if House Democrats have the ability to muscle that expense through the chamber, the relocation would be symbolic because Senate Republicans are unified versus it.
Miguel Cerrillo, the dad of Miah Cerrillo, a fourth-grade Robb Elementary School trainee who endured the May 24 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, remembers as victims’ moms and dads and survivors of Uvalde and Buffalo shootings affirm prior to a House Oversight Committee hearing on “The Urgent Need to Address the Gun Violence Epidemic,” on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 8, 2022.
Jonathan Ernst|Reuters
