Washington, Mar 24 (EFE).- Dozens of victims of shootings in the United States met this Friday in front of the Capitol to share their experiences and demand that the authorities stop the trade in assault weapons once and for all.
“Weapons are not more important than lives,” Kimberly Rubio, mother of Lexi, who was murdered in May of last year in a shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde (Texas), told EFE.
With a broken voice, this woman explained that she travels regularly to Washington because she does not want to miss “not even an opportunity” to tell her daughter’s story.
“Let them act once and for all. This situation is like a slap in the face. What happened to my daughter was not enough for them to do something? ”, She expressed.
Like Kimberly, several relatives of victims met in the center of the US capital, where four years ago today the massive “March for Our Lives” demonstration took place in response to another shooting at an educational center, the one in Parkland (Florida) in 2018. .
One of the 17 deceased in that tragedy was Joaquín Oliver, son of Manuel and Patricia Oliver, well-known activists against the possession of weapons who did not miss the appointment this Friday.
Precisely, the Olivers were evicted from Congress yesterday for loudly interrupting a hearing on weapons in a House of Representatives committee, controlled by the Republicans, and Manuel was even subdued by Capitol police officers.
“Yesterday they told me to shut up and sit down or I was going to be arrested. Well, they arrest us all, ”he joked this Friday.
By his side, Patricia claimed that we must “educate the people of the government” about armed violence and add “more voices” in this battle.
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, signed an executive order last week with measures to support survivors of shootings and families of victims during their recovery processes in terms of mental health.
The debate on the possession of weapons, a right enshrined in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, returned to the order of the day after the shooting in May of last year at an elementary school in Uvalde (Texas) in which 19 children and 2 adults died.
Republicans oppose regulating gun ownership, while Democrats advocate more checks on buyers’ backgrounds.
For activists, one of the most urgent steps is to ban the sale of assault rifles, used in many of the country’s shootings.
“We are tired. We are going to keep coming until the veto is approved, ”Catherine Buitrón, a member of the March Fourth organization, told EFE, who pressures congressmen to ban assault rifles.
This Illinois woman became involved in activism after the 2012 Sandy Hook (Connecticut) massacre and redoubled her efforts after the Uvalde shooting, where a friend of hers lost her daughter.
The common denominator of these shootings is “the type of weapon,” explained Buitrón, who lamented that many legislators oppose the veto for “political reasons.”
Despite this, she is convinced that they will win this fight. “We are right,” she declared.
