Americans have become so inured to school massacres that there is a growing demand to publish the pictures of children shot in school killings. Too often, the gun debate is abstract, and images of dead kids will show the stark reality of death by bullets from high-powered weapons of war.
Today, in testimony before Congress, a local Uvalde pediatrician, himself a graduate of Robb Elementary, offered graphic testimony. He gave his audience a clear picture of what those photographs would show.
Here is Dr. Roy Guerrero’s description of what he saw at the hospital after the Uvalde school shootings
“I had heard from some of the nurses there were two dead children who had been moved to the surgical area of the hospital. As I made my way there I prayed that I wouldn’t find her.
I didn’t find Alaina but I did find something no prayer will ever relieve. Two children whose bodies had been pulverized by bullets fired at them decapitated, whose flesh had been ripped apart, that the only clue of their identities was the blood-spattered cartoon clothes clinging to them, clinging for life and finding none.”
The conservative reflexive position on school massacres - under the rubric of “it’s too soon” - is to claim that liberals are “politicizing” tragedy. And that the parents and families of the dead children should be allowed time to mourn. However, not doing anything is politicizing school shootings by taking the gun lobby's position.
Further, if you listen to the parents of many children who have been shot dead, their only comfort is their belief their child’s death would not be in vain if it leads to actions that would reduce the number of future dead children. It is supremely arrogant — a characteristic not unusual in conservatives — to presume to speak for the parents who have brutally lost a child. They can speak for themselves.
Here is the testimony of one mother, Kimberly Rubio, whose 10-year-old daughter, Lexi, was slaughtered at Robb
“We don’t want you to think of Lexi as just a number. She was intelligent, compassionate, athletic. She was quiet, shy unless she had a point to make. When she was right — she so often was — she stood her ground. She was firm, direct, voice unwavering. So today, we stand for Lexi, and as her voice, we demand action.”
And it is not just the parents. Also testifying today was an 11-year-old survivor of the Robb Elementary School Massacre. It is not “too soon” for her. Even at just 11, she realizes the importance of the world knowing the truth of what happened. Here is the pre-recorded testimony from Miah Cerrillo, who described what happened when the Uvalde shooter forced his way into her classroom.
“There is a door between our classrooms, and he went through there and shot my teacher and told my teacher ‘goodnight’ and shot her in the head. He shot some of my classmates and the whiteboard.
I went to the backpacks, he shot my friend that was next to me, and I thought he was going to come back to the room so I grabbed the blood and I put it all on me”
Asked what she did next, Cerrillo said “I just stayed quiet, and then I got my teacher’s phone and called 911.”
“What did you tell 911?”
“I told her that we need help and to send the police into our classroom.”
As the world now knows, the police dithered while children died. And now the GOP is doing the same.
House Democratic leaders have scheduled votes for Wednesday evening on two minimal gun control laws. One is the "Protecting Our Kids Act" — a package of seven gun violence-related measures that includes raising the age for the legal purchase of semiautomatic rifles and shotguns to 21, closing the "bump stock" loophole, and other measures aimed at preventing the illegal trafficking of guns.
The other is the "Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act," a federal "red flag" bill that would allow family members and law enforcement officials to temporarily block firearm access to anyone who a court determines poses a danger to themselves or others.
House Republicans are going to vote against them. Largely due to their craven obeisance to the gun nut lobby. In a "whip notice" sent to rank-and-file members on Tuesday afternoon, House GOP leadership urged a "no" vote on all eight bills, referring to the seven-bill package as the "Unconstitutional Gun Restrictions Act." They wrote that House Democrats had "thrown together this reactionary package comprised of legislation that egregiously violates law-abiding citizens' 2nd Amendment rights and hinders Americans' ability to defend and protect themselves and their families."
It is complete bullshit. In the Heller v. DC decision, in which the Supreme Court’s conservative majority declared that the second amendment guaranteed the right to have a gun, Justice Scalia was clear that 2A is not unlimited - and restrictions on the sale and carrying of guns were constitutional.
But the GOP is not scared to lie while children die.