The House Committee on Oversight and Reform held a hearing Wednesday on potential gun legislation. Testimony included four people from Texas who were in Uvalde on the day of the shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24th.
"Despite their pain, these witnesses express their strong desire to share their stories with this committee and the public," said Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), who chairs the committee. "Across the country, senseless gun violence is claiming the lives of our children and loved ones in places where they should be safe: our schools, our supermarkets and even our churches and our synagogues."
Maloney cited numbers from gunviolencearchive.org showing 248 mass shootings across the U.S. in 2022 through June 8. The site defines a mass shooting as one where at least four people are injured or killed.
The parents of Lexi Rubio, a 10-year-old girl who was killed in Uvalde, testified before the committee along with pediatrician Roy Guerrero, who was working at Uvalde Memorial Hospital, and Miah Cerrillo, a fourth-grader who survived the shooting.
Cerrillo recorded a video describing the shooting. She said her teacher got a message about the shooting and locked the door to the classroom.
"He was in the hallway, and they made eye contact," Cerrillo said in the video. "She went back in the room and said, 'go hide.' We went to go hide behind the teacher's desk behind the backpacks."
Cerrillo said the gunman shot through the window and went into a neighboring classroom, eventually coming into her classroom.
"He shot my teacher, told my teacher, 'goodnight,' and shot her in the head. Then he shot some of my classmates, then the whiteboard," Cerrillo said. "When I went to the back, he shot my friend who was next to me. I thought he was going to come back to the room, so I grabbed blood and put it all over me, just stayed quiet, got my teacher's phone, and called 911."
Guerrero, the pediatrician, told the committee he had sworn an oath to do no harm.
"After witnessing first-hand the carnage in my hometown of Uvalde, to stay silent would have betrayed that oath," Guerrero said. "Inaction is harm, passivity is harm, delay is harm. Here I am, not to plead, not to beg or convince you of anything but to do my job. I hope, by doing so, I would inspire the members of this House to do theirs."
A later panel included the mayor of New York City and police commissioner in Buffalo. Joe Gramaglia talked about the equipment his officers carry and answered questions about arming teachers.
"I certainly agree with hardening our targets, making sure our schools are safe buildings, having a strong school resource program where school resource officers are engaging with our students, building trust with students," Gramaglia said. "I think we have to caution against over-weaponizing our schools. It causes fear in our students."
Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the ranking Republican on the committee, said murder and aggravated assault had increased since 2020, saying, "this is a trend we must reverse."
"Americans of all backgrounds should be empowered to defend themselves against rising violence," Comer said. "Too often, tragedies are politicized for partisan gain. We have seen many seek to leverage these crimes and their victims to push for radical, left-wing policies."
Comer said the committee should instead focus on improving security at locations people might consider vulnerable. He says Congress should consider measures to harden infrastructure, enforce existing laws and "work to foster a culture that values conflict resolution and dialogue over violence."
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