The father of a child killed in the Uvalde mass shooting was kicked out of the Texas State Capitol for protesting after a gun reform proposal was left off the agenda.
Brett Cross, whose son Uziyah was among 19 students killed along with two teachers at the Robb Elementary School massacre last year, was escorted out of the House chambers on Tuesday night following the Republican-led legislature’s refusal to put HB2744 on the calendar. The bill, which proposed to raise the age requirement to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21 in the state, had been advanced earlier this week after two Republicans joined Democrats in its favour in a shocking move.
The bill’s deadline to be heard before this legislature session wraps up is on Thursday. However, a mandatory 36-hour scheduling window was missed when legislators failed to add it to the agenda by 10pm on Tuesday, according to The Texas Tribune.
As he chanted “2-7-4-4!” just minutes before the cutoff, Mr Cross was asked to leave by a state trooper who claimed he was being too loud and the limit was 85 decibels. Mr Cross was the only person to have been removed from the chambers, the Houston Chronicle reported.
On his way out, Mr Cross continued chanting in unison with other parents of the Uvalde victims who supported the bill and pleaded for gun reforms following the 24 May 2022 shooting in their hometown. Earlier this weekend, some of the parents camped outside the House chamber and chanted at lawmakers as they entered.
“Apparently a voice yelling to send a bill to the floor that protects children is too much. They are used to not hearing pain, heartache and despair, as they have been so accustomed to our children’s screams being removed,” Mr Cross said in a statement on Wednesday, addressing his removal from the chambers. “The issue is, while Uziyah's voice may have been eternally muted, mine will not. DPS and the State of Texas will go out of their way to villainize those who go against their good ol' boy system and disrupt the status quo. They have not had a person, or group go against them with this much hope and internal fight that they are scared.”
Former State Representative and 2022 gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke also tweeted: “He’s doing more to stop kids from being killed than anyone who works there. Keep it up.”
The short-lived momentum of HS2477 on Monday followed a weekend of horrors in the Lone Star State after a gunman opened fire at an outlet mall in the Dallas suburb of Allen. Eight people were killed before a police officer, who was at the scene responding to an unrelated call, managed to take down shooter Mauricio Garcia, 33.
Even if passed, the measure was unlikely to become law. Gov Abbott has previously waved off the idea of allowing only people 21 or older to purchase guns like those used in many of the country’s worst mass shootings, including Texas’. But the bill even clearing a committee vote was unusual, according to the Associated Press.
Texas has some of the most lax gun laws in the country. Most adults are allowed to carry a handgun in a holster both openly and concealed, without a permit. Private firearm dealers in the Lone Star State are not required to conduct background checks before selling, despite three-fourths of Texas supporting such measures, according to Texas Gun Sense.
