Richard Small has been a member of the National Rifle Association for over 25 years. After the shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, he decided to hand over his AR-15 rifle to police.
Small said he began to think about it when he and his wife, Marina, both retired teachers, drove from their home on a small ranch in Charlotte, Texas to Uvalde, about an hour and a half north. -west. They went to visit the memorial installed outside Robb Elementary School and paid their respects to the 19 students and two teachers killed there by a gunman last Tuesday.
Small said his wife approached some people and started talking to them as he stayed under a nearby tree.
“I obviously felt remorse too, and I started thinking about it, and I said, ‘Well, here I am, I have the gun that was used,'” he told Tom Harrington, a guest presenter for As It Happens. to serve. I don’t pull it off. It is always locked in a safe. And I said, “You know what? I’ll get rid of it,” I say. no real and meaningful purpose “.
He was also encouraged to see pictures of the children who died in the shooting.
“One of those kids in the pictures reminds me of my grandson right now who is the same age. They could have been twins,” Small said. “And when I saw him on TV with the news, I told my wife, I turned around and looked at her and said, ‘Look, it could be William,'” he said.
After Small returned home, he called Charlotte Police Chief Rick Luna to warn him that he would go to the station to deliver his weapon. The boss didn’t answer, but Small went down to the station anyway and when he arrived he called an agent outside the station, who approached the chain link fence.
“And I said, ‘I live here in Charlotte. I have a weapon, an AR. It’s in the truck. “I said, ‘It’s unloaded, it’s unloaded, it’s unloaded.’ And I said, ‘I want to deliver it,'” he recalled.
“‘She’s registered and all,’ I said. ‘But I just got on with it,’ I say.
The officer wasn’t sure, Small said, so he called Luna again, from her place outside the fence. Luna gave Small permission to turn the gun. Photos of him turning the gun were published in the Washington Post.
Small said he hoped the force would use it in its police work or destroy it, but he did not want to sell it, although he knows he could have done so easily because he was afraid another civilian would use it.
Small said one of the children killed in the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde reminded his grandson. Small handed over his AR-15 rifle to police. (Submitted by Richard Small)
The firing of the gun causes shock, support
Small’s move caused quite a stir.
“My neighbor by my side … I have a small ranch. He also has a small ranch. My wife told him the other day; he almost fainted. He said, ‘What did he do? Is he okay?’ “.
But Small said his wife, Marina, was “excited” about his actions. “I felt better too,” he said.
Marina’s cousins sent a text message telling them that they were supporting Small’s move, and she said that her daughter, who is also a teacher, was also proud of it.
Small said he would like to see new laws regulating certain weapons, such as the AR-15, which he says is the civilian version of the M16 he used when he was in the U.S. military.
“And that’s exactly what I did. I say, ‘I’m sure they’re going to ban these things,'” he said. two AR-15s a few days after his 18th birthday.
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden pass in front of a memorial site in the town square of Uvalde created for the killings in the school’s mass shooting on the way to Robb Elementary School on Sunday May 29 in Uvalde. (Wong Maye-E / The Associated Press)
Small said he was still thinking about what he would do with his membership in the NRA.
“I don’t think I’ll renew because I don’t want to be a hypocrite. And I still hadn’t thought about that,” he said. He noted that some of the information the group publishes is “propaganda”.
As for the weapon he handed over to police, the measure was so unusual that the force is still trying to figure out exactly how to prosecute it. Small said that if he had to legally sell it by force, he would sell it to them for a dollar.
But, he said, he felt compelled to do what he did.
“I’ve crossed the line and I’m just going to move forward and continue.”
Written by Andrea Bellemare. Interview produced by Leslie Amminson and Chris Harbord.