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Parents of victims and survivors of the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde will appear before a House committee Wednesday in an effort to bring home the devastation of America’s gun violence epidemic and urge Congress to act.
The panel for Wednesday’s hearing will include testimony from the mother of a 20-year-old man who was shot in a racist mass shooting last month in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, as well as the parents of a 10-year-old girl shot and killed in her elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, 12 days later.
“That is a way for us parents, not all of us are going to be there obviously, but a way to get that message out to say ‘Hey, we need to make change,’” said Alfred Garza, whose daughter Amerie Jo was among the 21 students and teachers killed in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.
Lawmakers will also hear from Miah Cerrillo, a fourth-grader who covered herself in her dead classmate’s blood and played dead to survive the shooting rampage in Uvalde. The committee said the testimonies will take place either in person or virtually.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., the chairwoman of the Oversight Committee, said last week that Wednesday’s hearing will examine the human impact of gun violence and the urgency for lawmakers to enact gun control legislation.
“It is my hope that all my colleagues will listen with an open heart as gun violence survivors and loved ones recount one of the darkest days of their lives,” Maloney said in a statement. “This hearing is ultimately about saving lives, and I hope it will galvanize my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass legislation to do just that.”
Garnell Whitfield, Jr. delivered an emotional testimony Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, challenging Congress to act against the “cancer on white supremacy”
The hearing comes a day after the son an 86-year-old woman killed in the racist Buffalo mass shooting delivered emotional testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Garnell Whitfield Jr., whose mother was the oldest of the 10 Buffalo victims, challenged Congress Tuesday to act against the “cancer of white supremacy” and the nation’s epidemic of gun violence.
“What are you doing? You were elected to protect us,” Whitfield Jr. told the panel.
The Oversight committee, controlled by a Democratic majority, is no stranger to examining gun violence in America. But the recent spate of killings has reached a boiling point on Capitol Hill and around the country.
Last week, President Joe Biden issued his strongest appeal yet for Congress to take action on guns as bipartisan talks are intensifying among a core group of senators.
But lawmakers have been here before — unable to pass any substantial gun safety laws in decades in the face of steep objections from Republicans in Congress, some conservative Democrats, and the fierce lobbying of gun owners and the National Rifle Association. No major legislation has made it into law since the 1994 assault weapons ban, which has since expired.
The issue for Democrats is that a number of the topics with bipartisan support would likely not have stopped either the shooting in Buffalo or Uvalde. And the ones that gun safety advocates argue would have been met with a deep reluctance from Republicans. One such proposal would raise the age requirement for gun purchases from 18 to 21. Another popular measure among Democrats would have banned assault-style rifles altogether.
The actor was born in Uvalde, Texas, and spoke at the White House on Tuesday about his connection to the town and his desire to fight for gun restrictions.
Instead, the senators are focusing on incremental policy changes through a system that would send funds and other incentives to the states to bolster security at school campuses, provide more mental health services to young people and possibly encourage states to pursue red-flag laws to keep firearms out of the hands of people who would do harm.
But one thing that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle seem to agree on is that inaction is not an option.
“We know we won’t get it all done at once,” Schumer said Tuesday afternoon. “But the American people want us to get something done and they want to see Republicans do something.”
His counterpart across the aisle seemed to echo the sentiment. “Almost everybody would like to get an outcome,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told reporters. “I hope we’ll have one sooner rather than later.”
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