An 11-year-old survivor of the elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas testified before the House oversight committee on Wednesday, as lawmakers continued to try to reach a compromise on gun control legislation after a series of devastating mass shootings.
The House hearing came two weeks after an 18-year-old opened fire at Robb elementary school, killing 19 children and two teachers, and three weeks after 10 people were killed at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
Miah Cerrillo, a fourth-grader at the Uvalde school, recounted how she watched as her teacher and friends were shot and acted quickly to save herself. Miah covered herself in a friend’s blood and played dead until she was able to reach her teacher’s phone and call police.
Arnulfo Reyes speaks about being wounded and surviving the 24 May 2022 school massacre in Uvalde, Texas.
‘It all happened too fast’: injured Uvalde teacher recounts school shooting
Read more
In her recorded testimony, Miah said she no longer felt safe at school.
“Because I don’t want it to happen again,” she said.
Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, known as Lexi, had big goals: She wanted to get a degree in math and attend law school. But those dreams were shattered when a gunman stormed her fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, killing Lexi, 18 of her classmates and two teachers.
Her parents, Kimberly and Felix Rubio, testified before Congress on Wednesday about their daughter’s lost dreams — and what could be done to prevent similar tragedies in America, where mass shootings have become commonplace in small towns and urban areas alike.
“That opportunity was taken from her; she was taken from us,” Ms. Rubio said via a live video stream. “We understand that for some reason, to some people, to people with money, the people who fund political campaigns, that guns are more important than children.”
Ms. Rubio pleaded with Congress to change gun laws that allow dangerous weapons to be used by the wrong people. She wants to see the age requirement to buy military-style rifles like the AR-15 raised to 21, as well as stronger background checks on gun buyers, and for gun manufacturers to be liable after similar tragedies.
“At this moment, we ask for progress,” she said.
The Rubios described desperately looking for their daughter after news broke that there had been a shooting at her school. Just hours earlier, like many parents, Ms. Rubio had attended an awards ceremony for Lexi. Leaving her behind at the school after the ceremony, Ms. Rubio said, was the biggest regret of her life.
“We promised to get her ice cream that evening. I told her we loved her and we would pick her up after school,” a visibly stricken Ms. Rubio testified. She said she could still picture Lexi turning back and smiling, acknowledging her mother’s promise of a treat.
“And then we left. I left my daughter at that school. That decision will haunt me for the rest of my life,” she said.
F...c what you claim are your constitutional rights. You know who didn’t have their constitutional rights upheld? The childrenAnonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Americans are bad people. Why are they allowing this?
Americans are NOT bad people which is even why it’s even more perplexing that they are allowing this.
We are pretty selfish. But what I don’t understand is why all these “family first” republicans are not afraid this could happen at their own child’s school. Or they are, but their career comes first so they are willing to roll the dice?
I think the Republicans are just brain-washed and filled with propaganda. But they have always had a “this would never happen to me” attitude about everything.
We are afraid. Go ahead, raise age to buy AR 15s to 21. I think unfortunately, kids like Ramos will find another weapon. Because we have a Constitution with a 2nd Amendment, eventually we will have to roll up our sleeves and get serious about why kids are doing this. Why didn't this happen all the time in the 80s? Why now? What is the cause? How are we growing these monsters.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Americans are bad people. Why are they allowing this?
Americans are NOT bad people which is even why it’s even more perplexing that they are allowing this.
We are pretty selfish. But what I don’t understand is why all these “family first” republicans are not afraid this could happen at their own child’s school. Or they are, but their career comes first so they are willing to roll the dice?
I think the Republicans are just brain-washed and filled with propaganda. But they have always had a “this would never happen to me” attitude about everything.
We are afraid. Go ahead, raise age to buy AR 15s to 21. I think unfortunately, kids like Ramos will find another weapon. Because we have a Constitution with a 2nd Amendment, eventually we will have to roll up our sleeves and get serious about why kids are doing this. Why didn't this happen all the time in the 80s? Why now? What is the cause? How are we growing these monsters.
Because the shooters nowadays were the kids growing up seeing it happen. Adults also over the last few decades. We didn’t grow up seeing mass shootings on tv everyday in the 70s or 80s, it wasn’t a thing. It wasn’t acceptable. There is a generation that has seen this and interpreted it as the way to act out in this world.
But it’s not happening in the world - just our country. The kids in England, for example, are brought up on American news, American games, American TV and movies, and there are no mass shooting there. Those kids are the same as US kids but they just don’t have access to guns.
They are the acid attacks capital of the world.
OMG, you’re an idiot!! There are no mass casualties “acid attacks” in other countries!
Hey "idiot" - where did I say "mass casualties acid attacks?" I did not. Thus, you are the idiot. I said acid attacks. Acid attacks aren't trivial either.
Show me an acid attack that killed 21 elementary school students.
Or an acid attack where the cops didn’t sit outside waiting until it was over because they were too afraid of the acid.
The cops know exactly how deadly these guns are.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Americans are bad people. Why are they allowing this?
Americans are NOT bad people which is even why it’s even more perplexing that they are allowing this.
We are pretty selfish. But what I don’t understand is why all these “family first” republicans are not afraid this could happen at their own child’s school. Or they are, but their career comes first so they are willing to roll the dice?
I think the Republicans are just brain-washed and filled with propaganda. But they have always had a “this would never happen to me” attitude about everything.
We are afraid. Go ahead, raise age to buy AR 15s to 21. I think unfortunately, kids like Ramos will find another weapon. Because we have a Constitution with a 2nd Amendment, eventually we will have to roll up our sleeves and get serious about why kids are doing this. Why didn't this happen all the time in the 80s? Why now? What is the cause? How are we growing these monsters.
Because the shooters nowadays were the kids growing up seeing it happen. Adults also over the last few decades. We didn’t grow up seeing mass shootings on tv everyday in the 70s or 80s, it wasn’t a thing. It wasn’t acceptable. There is a generation that has seen this and interpreted it as the way to act out in this world.
But it’s not happening in the world - just our country. The kids in England, for example, are brought up on American news, American games, American TV and movies, and there are no mass shooting there. Those kids are the same as US kids but they just don’t have access to guns.
They are the acid attacks capital of the world.
OMG, you’re an idiot!! There are no mass casualties “acid attacks” in other countries!
Hey "idiot" - where did I say "mass casualties acid attacks?" I did not. Thus, you are the idiot. I said acid attacks. Acid attacks aren't trivial either.
Show me an acid attack that killed 21 elementary school students.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Americans are bad people. Why are they allowing this?
Americans are NOT bad people which is even why it’s even more perplexing that they are allowing this.
We are pretty selfish. But what I don’t understand is why all these “family first” republicans are not afraid this could happen at their own child’s school. Or they are, but their career comes first so they are willing to roll the dice?
I think the Republicans are just brain-washed and filled with propaganda. But they have always had a “this would never happen to me” attitude about everything.
We are afraid. Go ahead, raise age to buy AR 15s to 21. I think unfortunately, kids like Ramos will find another weapon. Because we have a Constitution with a 2nd Amendment, eventually we will have to roll up our sleeves and get serious about why kids are doing this. Why didn't this happen all the time in the 80s? Why now? What is the cause? How are we growing these monsters.
Because the shooters nowadays were the kids growing up seeing it happen. Adults also over the last few decades. We didn’t grow up seeing mass shootings on tv everyday in the 70s or 80s, it wasn’t a thing. It wasn’t acceptable. There is a generation that has seen this and interpreted it as the way to act out in this world.
But it’s not happening in the world - just our country. The kids in England, for example, are brought up on American news, American games, American TV and movies, and there are no mass shooting there. Those kids are the same as US kids but they just don’t have access to guns.
They are the acid attacks capital of the world.
OMG, you’re an idiot!! There are no mass casualties “acid attacks” in other countries!
Hey "idiot" - where did I say "mass casualties acid attacks?" I did not. Thus, you are the idiot. I said acid attacks. Acid attacks aren't trivial either.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Americans are bad people. Why are they allowing this?
Americans are NOT bad people which is even why it’s even more perplexing that they are allowing this.
We are pretty selfish. But what I don’t understand is why all these “family first” republicans are not afraid this could happen at their own child’s school. Or they are, but their career comes first so they are willing to roll the dice?
I think the Republicans are just brain-washed and filled with propaganda. But they have always had a “this would never happen to me” attitude about everything.
We are afraid. Go ahead, raise age to buy AR 15s to 21. I think unfortunately, kids like Ramos will find another weapon. Because we have a Constitution with a 2nd Amendment, eventually we will have to roll up our sleeves and get serious about why kids are doing this. Why didn't this happen all the time in the 80s? Why now? What is the cause? How are we growing these monsters.
Because the shooters nowadays were the kids growing up seeing it happen. Adults also over the last few decades. We didn’t grow up seeing mass shootings on tv everyday in the 70s or 80s, it wasn’t a thing. It wasn’t acceptable. There is a generation that has seen this and interpreted it as the way to act out in this world.
But it’s not happening in the world - just our country. The kids in England, for example, are brought up on American news, American games, American TV and movies, and there are no mass shooting there. Those kids are the same as US kids but they just don’t have access to guns.
They are the acid attacks capital of the world.
OMG, you’re an idiot!! There are no mass casualties “acid attacks” in other countries!
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Americans are bad people. Why are they allowing this?
Americans are NOT bad people which is even why it’s even more perplexing that they are allowing this.
We are pretty selfish. But what I don’t understand is why all these “family first” republicans are not afraid this could happen at their own child’s school. Or they are, but their career comes first so they are willing to roll the dice?
I think the Republicans are just brain-washed and filled with propaganda. But they have always had a “this would never happen to me” attitude about everything.
We are afraid. Go ahead, raise age to buy AR 15s to 21. I think unfortunately, kids like Ramos will find another weapon. Because we have a Constitution with a 2nd Amendment, eventually we will have to roll up our sleeves and get serious about why kids are doing this. Why didn't this happen all the time in the 80s? Why now? What is the cause? How are we growing these monsters.
I’m so tired of the “this didn’t happen before the 80s!” BS.
Mass murders are part of human nature. Mass lynchings, Salem witch trials, mobs, etc have been around for hundreds of years.
The first mass shooting on record in the US was in 1891 (which was a school shooting, btw). They probably occurred before then.
What happened was that guns became deadlier and more readily available. Period. Weapons are developed for soldiers and then manufacturers sell to civilians to make more money.
Gun control legislation began in the 1930s because people were using machine guns like the Tommy gun to conduct mass shootings. The did this by taxing them heavily, so most people could not afford them.
The AR-15 was produced by one manufacturer, Colt, and they did not produce many. They even stopped production after the AR-15 was first used for a mass shooting. But the patent expired and other manufacturers picked it up and begun churning them out and heavily marketing them. Then the repeal of the assault weapons ban made them profitable again. Now you can pick one up and pay in installments, so you can get an AR-15 basically for free.
This is not complicated. We need to stop pretending there was this halcyon era where mass murders did not occur. They have always occurred. There was no magical event other than people now have easy access to deadly weapons. That’s it. End of story.
That first mass shooting at a school in 1891? Either zero or no one died (records are unclear) because it was a more primitive weapon. It was not a wartime weapon literally designed to kill as many humans as quickly as possible. We have records in hunter-gatherer cultures were the same weird, asocial, male murderers exist as they do in our culture. The difference is they have very primitive weapons like stone tools and so very few people are killed, if any.
I can’t believe this is still even a discussion. Literally every other developed country has figured this out and we’re still over here throwing our hands up like a mysterious mind-altering event happened. No. There have always been killers, there will always be killers, it’s our responsibility to keep them from getting deadlier weapons.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Americans are bad people. Why are they allowing this?
Americans are NOT bad people which is even why it’s even more perplexing that they are allowing this.
We are pretty selfish. But what I don’t understand is why all these “family first” republicans are not afraid this could happen at their own child’s school. Or they are, but their career comes first so they are willing to roll the dice?
I think the Republicans are just brain-washed and filled with propaganda. But they have always had a “this would never happen to me” attitude about everything.
We are afraid. Go ahead, raise age to buy AR 15s to 21. I think unfortunately, kids like Ramos will find another weapon. Because we have a Constitution with a 2nd Amendment, eventually we will have to roll up our sleeves and get serious about why kids are doing this. Why didn't this happen all the time in the 80s? Why now? What is the cause? How are we growing these monsters.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Americans are bad people. Why are they allowing this?
Americans are NOT bad people which is even why it’s even more perplexing that they are allowing this.
We are pretty selfish. But what I don’t understand is why all these “family first” republicans are not afraid this could happen at their own child’s school. Or they are, but their career comes first so they are willing to roll the dice?
I think the Republicans are just brain-washed and filled with propaganda. But they have always had a “this would never happen to me” attitude about everything.
We are afraid. Go ahead, raise age to buy AR 15s to 21. I think unfortunately, kids like Ramos will find another weapon. Because we have a Constitution with a 2nd Amendment, eventually we will have to roll up our sleeves and get serious about why kids are doing this. Why didn't this happen all the time in the 80s? Why now? What is the cause? How are we growing these monsters.
Because the shooters nowadays were the kids growing up seeing it happen. Adults also over the last few decades. We didn’t grow up seeing mass shootings on tv everyday in the 70s or 80s, it wasn’t a thing. It wasn’t acceptable. There is a generation that has seen this and interpreted it as the way to act out in this world.
But it’s not happening in the world - just our country. The kids in England, for example, are brought up on American news, American games, American TV and movies, and there are no mass shooting there. Those kids are the same as US kids but they just don’t have access to guns.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Americans are bad people. Why are they allowing this?
Americans are NOT bad people which is even why it’s even more perplexing that they are allowing this.
We are pretty selfish. But what I don’t understand is why all these “family first” republicans are not afraid this could happen at their own child’s school. Or they are, but their career comes first so they are willing to roll the dice?
I think the Republicans are just brain-washed and filled with propaganda. But they have always had a “this would never happen to me” attitude about everything.
We are afraid. Go ahead, raise age to buy AR 15s to 21. I think unfortunately, kids like Ramos will find another weapon. Because we have a Constitution with a 2nd Amendment, eventually we will have to roll up our sleeves and get serious about why kids are doing this. Why didn't this happen all the time in the 80s? Why now? What is the cause? How are we growing these monsters.
Because the shooters nowadays were the kids growing up seeing it happen. Adults also over the last few decades. We didn’t grow up seeing mass shootings on tv everyday in the 70s or 80s, it wasn’t a thing. It wasn’t acceptable. There is a generation that has seen this and interpreted it as the way to act out in this world.
But it’s not happening in the world - just our country. The kids in England, for example, are brought up on American news, American games, American TV and movies, and there are no mass shooting there. Those kids are the same as US kids but they just don’t have access to guns.
They are the acid attacks capital of the world.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Americans are bad people. Why are they allowing this?
Americans are NOT bad people which is even why it’s even more perplexing that they are allowing this.
We are pretty selfish. But what I don’t understand is why all these “family first” republicans are not afraid this could happen at their own child’s school. Or they are, but their career comes first so they are willing to roll the dice?
I think the Republicans are just brain-washed and filled with propaganda. But they have always had a “this would never happen to me” attitude about everything.
We are afraid. Go ahead, raise age to buy AR 15s to 21. I think unfortunately, kids like Ramos will find another weapon. Because we have a Constitution with a 2nd Amendment, eventually we will have to roll up our sleeves and get serious about why kids are doing this. Why didn't this happen all the time in the 80s? Why now? What is the cause? How are we growing these monsters.
Because the shooters nowadays were the kids growing up seeing it happen. Adults also over the last few decades. We didn’t grow up seeing mass shootings on tv everyday in the 70s or 80s, it wasn’t a thing. It wasn’t acceptable. There is a generation that has seen this and interpreted it as the way to act out in this world.
But it’s not happening in the world - just our country. The kids in England, for example, are brought up on American news, American games, American TV and movies, and there are no mass shooting there. Those kids are the same as US kids but they just don’t have access to guns.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Americans are bad people. Why are they allowing this?
Americans are NOT bad people which is even why it’s even more perplexing that they are allowing this.
We are pretty selfish. But what I don’t understand is why all these “family first” republicans are not afraid this could happen at their own child’s school. Or they are, but their career comes first so they are willing to roll the dice?
I think the Republicans are just brain-washed and filled with propaganda. But they have always had a “this would never happen to me” attitude about everything.
We are afraid. Go ahead, raise age to buy AR 15s to 21. I think unfortunately, kids like Ramos will find another weapon. Because we have a Constitution with a 2nd Amendment, eventually we will have to roll up our sleeves and get serious about why kids are doing this. Why didn't this happen all the time in the 80s? Why now? What is the cause? How are we growing these monsters.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Americans are bad people. Why are they allowing this?
We aren't "allowing" this. Most Americans support some form of gun control, if not an outright assault weapons ban. So, miss me with this shit. We aren't "allowing" it, we are being held hostage by a bunch of extremist senators.