The hearing took place when lawmakers face pressure to act following the horrific massacre in Texas and a mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, in a predominantly black neighborhood.
These were some of the highlights of Wednesday’s hearing on armed violence convened by the House Oversight and Reform Committee:
In a pre-recorded video, 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo, a fourth-year student at Robb d’Uvalde Elementary School, described what it was like to survive the mass shooting. It marked a rare moment for Congress to hear the testimony of someone as young as Cerrillo on such a sensitive and disturbing issue as armed violence.
In the recorded recording, Cerrillo said he wants to “be safe” and that he is afraid of another school shooting.
He described trying to hide behind his teacher’s desk and said the gunman “said ‘good night’ to my teacher and shot him in the head”. Cerrillo said he thought the gunman would return to the room and described being covered in blood to try to survive. “I put it all on myself,” he said.
Miguel Cerrillo, Miah’s father, was moved when he said that the shooting had changed his daughter.
“I’m coming today because I might have lost my baby girl,” she said. “She’s not the same girl I used to play with, run and do everything, because she was my father’s girl.”
“I would like something to change, not just for our children, but for all the children in the world, because schools are no longer safe,” he said. “Something really needs to change.”
Relatives of the victims of the shootings are demanding gun control
Several relatives of victims of armed violence testified during the hearing and called for actions on gun control in a direct appeal to lawmakers.
Felix and Kimberly Rubio, parents of Lexi Rubio, a 10-year-old boy murdered in the Uvalde school massacre, testified during the hearing, and Kimberly outlined a list of demands for specific weapons policies. they want to be enacted.
“Today, we stand up for Lexi and, like her voice, we demand action,” Kimberly said.
Here’s what she asked for:
- “We are looking for a ban on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines. We understand that for some reason, some people, people with money, people who fund political campaigns, that guns are more important than children. So at this point we are calling for progress. “
- “We are looking to raise the age to buy these weapons from 18 to 21.”
- “We’re looking for red flag laws, stronger background checks.”
- “We also want to repeal the immunity from liability of arms manufacturers.”
Zeneta Everhart, the mother of Zaire Goodman, a survivor of the Buffalo supermarket shooting, also called on lawmakers to take legislative action.
“Lawmakers who allow these mass shootings to continue without passing stricter gun laws should be voted on,” he said in his testimony.
“As an elected official, it is your duty to draft legislation that protects Zaire and all the children and citizens of this country,” he said.
Witnesses give a first-hand account of the horrors of armed violence
Some of the witnesses in the hearing gave first-hand descriptions of the horrific reality – and the consequences – of armed violence.
Roy Guerrero, a pediatrician, described witnessing what he called “the butchery in my hometown of Uvalde”. Guerrero, who said he had lived in Uvalde all his life and treated children in the community before the massacre, said he “ran” to Uvalde Memorial Hospital on the day of the shooting. “I will never forget what I saw that day,” he said. He described in graphic detail the horrors he saw, including children whose bodies had been so brutalized by armed violence “that the only clue to his identity was blood-stained cartoon clothing that still clung to they”.
Everhart, the mother of Zaire Goodman, described in detail the wounds of her children.
“My son Zaire has a hole in the right side of his neck, two in his back and another in his left leg, caused by the explosion of a bullet from an AR-15. While I clean his wounds, I can “Shreds of bullets in his back. Shrapnel will be left inside his body for the rest of his life,” he said.
In a passionate message to lawmakers, he said: “If after hearing from me and the other people who testify here today you are not motivated to act on gun laws, I invite you to my home to help me clean up. the wounds of Zaire so that you can see closely the damage that has been done to my son and my community. ”
Buffalo’s mother survives the shooting: “This is us as a nation”
Everhart highlighted armed violence and racism in the United States in his testimony while talking about the Buffalo supermarket shooting, which the Justice Department is investigating as a hate crime and “an act of racist extremism.”
“America is inherently violent. That’s who we are as a nation,” he said. “The very existence of this country was based on violence, hatred and racism, with the practical annihilation of my native brothers and sisters. My ancestors, brought to America through the slave trade were the America’s first currency – Let me say it again for the people behind it: my ancestors, America’s first currency, were stripped of their heritage and culture, separated from their families, traded in blocks “Auctions, sold, beaten, raped and lynched. I still feel it continuously after every mass shooting. That this is not us as Americans and as a nation. Listen to me clearly: this is exactly who we are.” .
The entrenched partisan division persists in the arms debate
Evidence of partisan division rooted in the arms policy debate was fully shown during the hearing, as Democrats urged stronger gun control, while Republicans cracked down on restrictions.
New York Democrat Carolyn Maloney, chair of the House Oversight Committee, called for tighter gun control at the start of the hearing.
“Our witnesses today have suffered pain and loss, but they are showing incredible courage in coming here to ask us to do our job. We listen to their voices, we honor their courage, we find the same courage to pass laws. common sense. to protect our children, “he said.
“No civilian needs an assault rifle and the Second Amendment does not protect the right to have a weapon of war. It is time to ban assault rifles, our streets, our communities, our homes,” he said. to say.
Kentucky MP James Comer, the committee’s top Republican, said during the hearing that “knee-jerk reactions to imposing arms control policies that seek to reduce our constitutional right to bear arms are not the answer.”
“We should congratulate all law-abiding gun owners who use, store and carry these firearms safely. They did not vilify them for blatantly political purposes,” he said.
Maloney later said in response, “So I support the Second Amendment. I support law-abiding gun owners. I don’t support lax weapons laws that allow guns to fall into the hands of criminals and unstable people.” .