Dear John,

I continue to be amazed and inspired by the families of Uvalde, and I am
once again reminded by them of the work we still have in front of us.

Yesterday parents and siblings of those we lost in the Robb Elementary
shooting — who have already marched on the Capitol in Austin, rallied for
reform in the plaza at Uvalde, traveled five hours by bus to confront Greg
Abbott at the Edinburg debate — appeared at a Congressional hearing on gun
violence.

Faith Mata, a senior at Texas State who lost her sister Tess nearly seven
months ago, testified in front of those members of Congress who have the
power to change our gun laws.

She described to them what it was like to get the initial call from her
mom on May 24th, the panic of knowing there had been a shooting at her
sister’s school but not knowing yet whether her sister had been shot. The
frantic phone calls, the searching for answers outside of Robb Elementary
and then the waiting for hours at the Civic Center with other parents and
families, all of them hoping their kids were still alive. By the end of
that night 21 families, including Faith’s, would learn that they had lost
a loved one.

She told the committee what it was like to help plan her little sister’s
funeral, to take on the tasks her grieving parents were unable to do. She
told them about the darkness that had descended on her family “because our
light has left.”

And all she’s asking for is that Congress raise the age to buy an AR-15
from 18 to 21.

If Congress, or the Texas Legislature, had acted on this idea earlier, her
sister might still be alive. The Uvalde shooter patiently waited until he
turned 18-years old, after which he bought two AR-15s along with 1,600
rounds of ammunition.

As State Senator Roland Gutierrez said to reporters in a break during the
hearing yesterday:

“The fact is in Texas you got to be 21 to buy a handgun, 21 to buy a beer,
21 to buy a pack of cigarettes, but you can be 18 and buy an AR-15, and
that’s what happened here because this governor allowed it… It’s time for
change, not just in Texas but throughout this country.”
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Roy Guerrero, a Uvalde pediatrician who did his best to save the lives of
those shot on May 24th of this year, testified that the kids at Robb
Elementary like Faith’s sister Tess weren’t helpless victims. But they
were powerless against a man with a weapon that had the power to blast
massive holes through their bodies, rendering them unrecognizable but for
the shoes that they were wearing. They were also powerless against
lawmakers who fail to act.

“My oath as a doctor means that I signed up to save lives. I do my job. I
guess it turns out that I am here to plead. To beg. To please, please do
yours.”

That comment was aimed at the legislators before him. Certainly, the chair
of the committee, Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and other
Democrats didn’t need more convincing. They are on board to take common
sense gun safety steps like raising the minimum age of purchase. But
Republicans and their witnesses are still focused on “solutions” like
bringing back the “paddle and prayer” to public schools.

But that’s not the whole story. Because, while we can take satisfaction in
knowing that “our side” wants to do the right thing and that the other
side, led by the bright lights of the GOP like Louie Gohmert, are willing
to accept the sacrifice of 10-year old children in order to maintain
nearly unlimited access to firearms for those who should never be in
possession of one, that doesn’t really get us anywhere.

What the families in Uvalde deserve, what your family and families across
this country deserve, is change. And that’s on all of us. Continuing to
push our federal and state legislators to do the right thing, regardless
of who is in the majority and what the odds are, is the task before us.

The Uvalde families have lost their loved ones and aren’t getting them
back. And yet they’re out there, facing down members of Congress, reliving
the most painful moment of their lives, pushing against whatever the odds
are in the hopes that they can help spare some other family the suffering
that they’ve experienced.

That should compel each of us to think about what we are willing to do.

As the Texas Legislature convenes next month, I hope that I can work with
you to follow the lead of Faith Mata and families of Uvalde to make sure
that we do all that we can, whatever the odds, to make Texas a safer place
for our kids, their teachers and our families.

Beto


 


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