Gun violence hearing - latest: Republican claims Democrats using 11-year-old Uvalde victim for political gain

House Oversight Committee holds hearing to hear stories of gun violence’s impact on families

Related video: Buffalo police chief says slain officer killed in mass shooting ‘was the good guy with a gun’

The House Oversight Committee met on Wednesday for its own response to the twin massacres in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York following the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on Tuesday regarding the rise of domestic terrorism.

Family members of the victims of the two shootings arrived on Capitol Hill for the first time since the two tragedies unfolded as a bipartisan group in the Senate met to discuss a path forward on firearms and school security legislation.

Lawmakers are debating a number of potential responses to the two deadly shootings, which both involved AR-15-style rifles wielded by suspects under the age of 21. The suspect in Buffalo, unlike in Uvalde, is thought to have had a clear racist motive for his attack.

But any path to legislation reaching Joe Biden’s desk must pass through the evenly-divided Senate, where it will need the votes of at least ten Republicans to pass.

On Tuesday, actor Matthew McConnaughey gave an impassioned speech on guns to the White House press.

Key Points

• McConaughey denies political ambitions
• Pro-gun groups warn followers to be ready for ‘battle’ at Capitol
• Uvalde pediatrician says he'll 'never forget' cries of families seeking news about their children
• Buffalo police chief debunks Republican argument saying slain officer was the ‘good guy with a gun’
• ‘America is inherently violent,’ mother of injured grocery store worker says

[8 June 2022 16:10 · John Bowden]

Chairwoman gavels in hearing with call for colleagues to show ‘courage'

Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney of the House Oversight Committee gaveled in Wednesday’s hearing with a call for her colleagues to find the same courage that she said victims of gun violence showed every day by speaking out about their experiences.

“My goal for this hearing is simple: I want every member of this committee to listen with an open heart to the brave witnesses who have come forward to tell their stories,” said the chairwoman in her opening remarks.

“THey are displaying incredible courage to come here and ask us to do our jobs,” she said, adding: Let us find the same courage to pass commonsense laws” aimed at stopping mass gun violence.

[8 June 2022 16:17 · John Bowden]

Mom of Buffalo shooting victim: Mass shootings define America

Zeneta Everhart, a mom of one of the victims of the Buffalo supermarket shooting, told lawmakers to come help her clean her son’s wounds sustained during the attack - which he is expected to face forever.

In an emotional moment during Wednesday’s testimony Ms Everhart offered to let lawmakers see the damage an AR-15 does to the body up close.

“If after hearing from me and the other people testifying here today, does not move you to act on gun laws, I invite you to my home to help me clean Zaire’s wounds so that you may see up close the damage that has been caused to my son and to my community,” she declared.

Read more from The Independent’s Rachel Sharp:

[8 June 2022 16:31 · Gustaf Kilander]

11-year-old Uvalde student describes nightmare of school shooting before Congress

Student Miah Cerrillo, 11, survived the Robb Elementary school shooting on 24 May that took the lives of 21 people.

She covered herself in the blood of a dead classmate to avoid being shot. On Wednesday, she described the ordeal in a pre-recorded video played before members of Congress.

“He shot my friend that was next to me,” she said. “And I thought he would come back to the room.”

She used her teacher’s phone to call 911.

“I said we needed help,” she said.

She was asked what she wanted to happen after the mass shooting.

“To have security,” she said, shaking her head when asked if she felt safe at school. “I don’t want it to happen again.”

Her tearful father appeared in person in Washington, DC, saying that she has changed after the attack.

“I came because I could’ve lost my baby girl,” Miguel Cerrillo said. “And she’s not the same little girl that I used to play with and run with and do everything, because she was daddy’s little girl.”

“I wish something would change,” he said. “Not only for our kids, but every single kid in the world, because schools are not safe anymore.”

[8 June 2022 16:44 · Gustaf Kilander]

Ohio GOP Rep Jim Jordan leaves hearing before emotional testimony from witnesses

Ohio Republican Representative Jim Jordan left the hearing before emotional testimony from witnesses.

The House Oversight Committee member was in the room as opening statements were delivered but left before the witness testimony began, The New York Times reported.

When the second panel started, he wasn’t in the room. Other Republicans stayed in the room, including Georgia’s Andrew Clyde, Florida’s Scott Franklin, and ranking member James Comer of Kentucky.

[8 June 2022 16:50 · Gustaf Kilander]

VIDEO: Schoolgirl describes covering herself in classmate's blood to hide from Uvalde gunman

[8 June 2022 17:10 · Sheila Flynn]

Uvalde victim’s mother warns fellow parents: Our tragedy could happen to you

The mother of a fourth-grader killed in the Uvalde school shooting made a tearful plea to Congress on Wednesday for stricter gun control - warning: “Somewhere out there, there is a mom listening to our testimony thinking, ‘I can’t even imagine their pain’ - not knowing that our reality will one day be hers unless we act now.”

Kimberly Rubio, appearing alongside her husband, Felix, via video, testified before the House Oversight Committee; other speakers included Miah Cerrillo, 11, who survived the 24 May Uvalde massacre and Zeneta Everhart, whose son survived the shooting last month at Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

The Rubios on Wednesday railed against “some people” who think that “guns are more important than children” and described the nightmare scenario that hit their lives two days before school let out for the summer.

On the morning of the shooting, the Rubios visited Robb Elementary for a 10.30am awards ceremony that recognized their daughter for being a good citizen and achieving all As; they posed for photos with her and promised a treat later.

“That photo, her last photo, was taken at approximately 10.54 am,” Ms Rubio told Congress Wednesday. “We promised to get her ice cream that evening; we told her we loved her and we would pick her up after school.

[8 June 2022 17:12 · Gustaf Kilander]

‘America is inherently violent,’ mother of injured grocery store worker says

Zeneta Everhart’s son worked at the Tops supermarket in Buffalo on 14 May when a racist gunman entered the store and began shooting.

The mother connected the shooting to the founding of the US.

“America is inherently violent,” she said. “My ancestors brought to America through the slave trade were the first currency of America.”

Ms Everhart noted that she has often heard that mass shootings don’t reflect who we are as a country.

“Hear me clearly,” she said. “This is exactly who we are.”

Her son Zaire Goodman, 21, was injured while helping a customer in the car park, acting dead as the gunman walked by. Ms Everhart noted that the gunman received a shotgun on his 16th birthday.

“For Zaire’s 16th birthday, I bought him a few video games, some headphones, a pizza and a cake,” she said. “What in the world is wrong with this country? Children should not be armed with weapons. Parents who provide their children with guns should be held accountable.”

“Let me paint a picture for you – My son Zaire has a hole in the right side of his neck, two on his back and another on his left leg. Caused by an exploding bullet from an AR-15,” she said. “As I clean those wounds I can feel pieces of that bullet in his back.”

“I want you to picture that exact scenario for one of your children,” she said. “This should not be your story or mine.”

“You are elected because you have been chosen and are trusted to protect us, but let me say here today, I do not feel protected,” she told lawmakers. “No citizen needs an AR-15.”

Speaking to members unwilling to pass gun control measures, she said, “I invite you to my home to help me clean Zaire’s wounds, so you may see up close the damage that has been caused to my son and my community”.

[8 June 2022 17:21 · Gustaf Kilander]

‘It’s high noon in America’: NYC Mayor calls for assault weapons ban

New York City Mayor Eric Adams called for a ban on assault weapons, bipartisan gun control legislation, and federal aid to cities and states to target the causes of violent crime.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is high noon in America. Time for every one of us to decide where we stand on the issue of gun violence,” Mr Adams told the House Oversight Committee. “Time to decide if it is more important to protect the profits of gun manufacturers or the lives of our children. Time to decide if we are going to be a nation of laws or a confederation of chaos.”

He called for federal aid to “dam all the rivers that lead to this sea of violence. Common-sense gun reform must become the law of the land”.

[8 June 2022 17:30 · Rachel Sharp]

Buffalo police chief debunks Republican argument saying slain officer was the ‘good guy with a gun’

The police chief who responded to the Buffalo mass shooting has hit back at the Republican argument against tighter gun control measures, saying that the security guard shot and killed in the massacre was the proverbial “good guy with a gun”.

Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning where lawmakers heard from victims and witnesses of the latest deadly mass shootings to ravage families and communities across America.

He spoke about Aaron Salter Jr., the security guard at the Tops Friendly Market who was among the 10 Black people killed in the racist massacre in Buffalo, New York, on 14 May.

“Aaron was a good guy and was no match for what he went up against, a legal AR-15 with multiple high-capacity magazines. He had no chance,” he testified.

In total, 13 people were shot by self-proclaimed racist and white supremacist Payton Gendron in the mass shooting at a Tops Friendly Market store in Buffalo back on 14 May.

[8 June 2022 17:50 · John Bowden]

Uvalde pediatrician says he'll 'never forget' cries of families seeking news about their children

A paediatrician who responded to the massacre in Uvalde, Texas gave gripping testimony on Wednesday and described hearing families shouting the names of their children and begging hospital staff for information about their loved ones.

“Those mothers’ cries, I will never get out of my head,” Dr Roy Guerrero told lawmakers at a hearing of the House Oversight Committee called to hear stories of gun violence from families of victims and first responders.

“I know I’ll never forget what I saw that day,” added Dr Guerrero.

He would go on in his testimony to describe the brutal damage that the high-powered semiautomatic weapon used by the Uvalde shooter did to the bodies of children killed in the attack.

Describing a gruesome scene at a Texas hospital where he and others worked to save victims of the shooting, he recalled seeing two children who had been “decapitated”.