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Uvalde parents make heartbreaking plea for gun reform at State Capitol
There was heartbreaking testimony before lawmakers in Austin, where parents who lost children in the Uvalde school shooting pushed to raise the legal age to buy an assault rifle from 18 to 21.
HOUSTON - Heart-rending testimony at the Texas Capitol where parents of children killed in the Uvalde school shooting pushed to raise the purchase legal age for semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21.
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11 months after the massacre committed by a teenaged gunman the parents asked fellow Texans to consider carefully their plea for passage of House Bill 2724.
"A shooter walked into Robb Elementary School and within about three minutes he shot 38 people.19 students and two teachers died....I call this 21 for 21, for the 21 souls we lost in Uvalde let's raise the age to 21 for the purchase of this weapon that took those innocent lives...God bless those families. They could be asking for so much more, but this is all they are asking you for," said State Representative Tracy King, a Republican from Uvalde and sponsor of HB-2724.
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Santa Fe, Uvalde families make the case for stricter gun laws
Families of school shooting victims were in Austin Tuesday urging lawmakers to pass House Bill 27-44, which would raise the age to buy a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21. Other bills would strengthen the current background check laws, and require them for private gun sales and a waiting period to buy a gun.
"Your thoughts and prayers did not stop an 18-year-old from purchasing two high-powered semiautomatic rifles and all of those rounds of ammunition," said Brett Cross, parent of Uvalde victim Uziya Garcia.," said Brett Cross, parent of Uvalde victim Uziya Garcia.Who knows when you will be in our shoes and you will beat yourself up for not doing everything in your power to prevent it from happening to you....Everybody wants to talk infringement, but you know what was infringed? Uziya's right to live and any chance to pursue happiness."
"I don't want any of you to have to identify your child's body based on what he was wearing to school that day," said Nikki Cross, Uziya's mother. "I don't come to you as a Democrat or Republican, I come to you as a Mom as a parent, enough is enough. Please do something! Do something now!"
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"Did you imagine what it would feel like to bury your child? Sit with that image as we do," said Kimberly Rubio, whose 10-year-old daughter died in the attack. "Because only when you imagine will you as Texas lawmakers take necessary action including voting for HB 2744....It's too late for us. No action you take will bring back our daughter, but you do have the opportunity to honor Lexi's life and legacy by voting for HB 2744 which will make our community safer and save lives."
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"I don't want you to see what I saw. My daughter draped in a white sheet, cold and alone in an operating room," said Javier Cazares, father 10-year-old Uvalde victim Jacklyn Cazares. "I saw the wound that took her life. I don't want any of you to see that."
"After dropping off Amerie that morning I had no idea "I love you Daddy" would be the last words I would ever hear coming out of her little mouth," said Angel Garza, father of a slain 4th grader. "We do everything to protect these guns, let's try something to protect our children."
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"Tess did not have a choice in life or death, but you, as leaders, have a choice of what my daughter's life will be remembered for," said Veronica Mata, mother of a 10-year-old killed at Robb Elementary. "Will she have died in vain or will her life have saved another child, maybe yours.....18 to 21 isn't much to ask. As a grieving mother, I beg of you to hear me out, and don't let my daughter's murder mean nothing to you."
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Santa Fe High School victim's family lobbying for gun reform legislation
**EDITOR'S NOTE: The video above is from a report in February 2023** FOX 26 Reporter Natalie Hee spoke with the family and explained what they're hoping to accomplish.
"You will never in a million years convince me that there is some benefit to an 18-year-old having an AR-15 that justifies having a classroom full of dead kids. We can't let this happen," said El Paso State Representative Joe Moody. "I stood on the House floor last session after the massacre in El Paso. I told everyone then, this was coming to their town, and I'm sorry to say that it did. This is going to happen again and again if we choose to let it."
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"We can't waste more time doing nothing," he continued. "I keep thinking of bloody shoes and shredded clothing being shown to families to identify their kids. We let that happen... Why are we leaving it to school children to be brave? They have to face bullets. The least we can do is face the NRA.... When we don't make reasonable common sense choices like this we are trading kids’ lives for them. Not a hypothetical, actual lives."
"'If Chairman King's bill had been the law, those kids would be alive today, period," Rep. Moody concluded.