GOP witness tells House hearing on Uvalde massacre that ‘paddle and prayer’ can stop gun violence

In front of survivors and families of victims demanding urgent gun reform, House Republicans argued the ‘root causes’ of mass shootings include lack of school prayer

A chairman of a Donald Trump-affiliated think tank argued to members of Congress that schools should use corporal punishment and prayer to prevent mass shootings that have killed dozens of schoolchildren across the US.

Jack Brewer, a former professional football player and chair of the America First Policy Institute’s Center for Opportunity Now, repeatedly invoked religion in his testimony to a House Judiciary Committee hearing on gun reform in the wake of the Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde, Texas.

The hearing – held six months after that mass shooting and 10 years and one day after the massacre of 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut – included witness testimony from the sister of a Uvalde victim, the town’s pediatrician, and a now-17-year-old survivor of the Sandy Hook attack.

Republicans on the committee dismissed arguments against the proliferation of high-powered firearms like AR-15-style rifles, while Mr Brewer repeatedly pointed to fatherlessness and the absence of Christianity as the root causes of gun violence.

“If we’re going to get serious about gun violence, then we must first get serious about bringing the paddle and prayer back to our public schools,” he said. “We do not even teach the 10 Commandments in our public schools anymore, much less hold our children accountable to them.”

He later added that if children “don’t have a fear of God, there is no way you’re going to be able to go into a society and promote any type of righteousness.”

“We are morally weak as a nation right now,” he said. “We have certain people in our government who don’t want to stand up for the word of God. That is called the antichrist.”

“Really?” said Democratic US Rep Madeleine Dean. “We heard testimony of a headless child – you’re gonna talk about paddles and prayers might solve this problem? Where have we lost our humanity?”

Gun reform advocate Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime was fatally shot in the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018, responded to Mr Brewer’s remarks on Twitter.

“No Jack, the answer begins by asking serious people for serious solutions,” he said. “You are not that.”

More than 350,000 people in the US have been killed by gun violence in the decade between those school massacres. Between them, there have been at least 54 school shootings involving active shooters, killing 101 people and injuring 156 others. Gun violence is the leading cause of death among American children.

Republican US Rep Louie Gohmert baselessly accused school staff of “grooming” children, referencing a right-wing smear against LGBT+ people and their advocates, rather than instill “Judeo-Christian principles” in schools.

In his closing remarks, Republican US Rep Burgess Owens said children should “understand discipline and respect”.

“This country was based on Judeo-Christian values,” he said. “Let’s not take that off the table.”

Jack Brewer testifies to the House Committee on the Judiciary on 15 December (House Judiciary Committee)

Republican US Rep Andy Biggs also accused gun reform advocates of working to “emasculate the Second Amendment” and remove firearms from law-abiding Americans.

“I don’t even know what that means,” said Democratic US Rep Veronica Escobar. “It sounds like guns are somehow tied to male egos. Is that what this is about? … This is really, again, deeply frustrating.”

The El Paso lawmaker’s district endured the deadliest attack against Latino people in the US when a white supremacist killed 23 people at a Walmart in 2019. She said that “trying to obfuscate and talk about anything other than the guns … is not going to solve this.”

“May not anyone’s masculinity be connected to the slaughter of children in our country,” Ms Dean said. “When you hear this set of arguments, can you reflect back to me how we bridge the divide … to find the love and humanity to find solutions this man-made problem?”

Faith Mata, whose 10-year-old sister Tess was fatally shot in her classroom in Uvalde on 24 May, said it is upsetting to hear a polarising and partisan response to gun violence.

“It shouldn’t be between two parties. It should be the fact that Americans are dying every day, children in America are dying, and you’re arguing over … ‘if we take away this gun, we’re taking away our Second Amendment’ … That’s not the issue. The issue is people are dying, you are the leaders, and you’re not doing anything about it.”