WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Tuesday accused Democrats of engaging in “ridiculous theater” when mass shootings occur by proposing measures they say will curb violence.
“Every time there is a shooting, we play this ridiculous theater where this committee gets together and proposes a bunch of laws that would do nothing to stop these murders,” Cruz said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing focused on gun violence.
The hearing was scheduled ahead of the deadly mass shootings at businesses in Atlanta earlier this month and at a Boulder, Colorado, grocery store Monday evening. It showed the broad divide between Democrats and Republicans over how to prevent mass shootings and reduce firearm deaths.
Democrats said that recent massacres underscore the need for more stringent gun control measures, while Republicans said legislation under consideration to expand background checks wouldn't prevent violence.
Cruz touted a gun-related bill he proposed with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). He said the measure would stop violent criminals, felons, and those with mental illness from purchasing a gun. The Grassley-Cruz proposal, otherwise known as the Protecting Communities and Preserving the Second Amendment Act, was first introduced in 2013.
Democrats on Tuesday again blasted Republicans for opposing stricter gun laws, arguing they are blocking common sense measures that would make it harder to buy the types of guns that have been used in recent mass killings.
"I want to be very clear — this is the one thing I do know enough to say on it, in terms of what’s happened there: While we’re still waiting for more information regarding the shooter; his motive; the weapons he used — the guns, the magazines, the weapons, and the modifications that apparently have taken place to those weapons that are involved here — I don’t need to wait another minute, let alone an hour, to take common sense steps that will save the lives in the future and to urge my colleagues in the House and Senate to act," President Joe Biden said Tuesday.
The Judiciary Committee hearing featured advocates and opponents of stricter gun laws.
Suzanna Hupp, a survivor of the 1991 Luby's mass shooting in Killeen, Texas, and former Republican state representative, talked about the need to protect second amendment rights at the hearing. Both her parents were killed in the massacre.
“I absolutely believe that disarming the average citizen makes for a much more unsafe society,” Hupp said.
She talked about her experience as a survivor, saying if she was armed at the time, the situation may have turned out differently. However, Texas state laws have changed since the time of the shooting.
“I watched, completely helplessly as this man walked around the room and shot people. He executed people,” she said. “I was mad as hell at my legislators because they had legislated me and others in that restaurant out of the right to be able to defend ourselves.”
Cruz agreed with Hupp’s testimony, saying: “The jurisdictions in this country with the strictest gun control have mong the highest rates of crime and murder. When you disarm law abiding citizens you make them more likely to be victims.”