“I do not want this to happen again,” pleaded 11-year-old Mia Serigio, who covered herself in the blood of her classmates to escape the 18-year-old who opened fire at her school while speaking in Congress.
A schoolgirl on Wednesday, covered in the blood of her classmates to escape the 18-year-old who opened fire on their school, appealed to Congress today to “never let such a tragedy happen again.”
THE armed “He shot my teacher, said ‘good night’ to her and shot her in the head. “Then he shot some of my classmates and the board,” 11-year-old Mia Serigio told the House of Representatives’ Oversight and Reform Committee.
“When I approached the bags, she shot my friend who was right next to me and I thought he would return to the room,” she continued in her videotaped testimony.
“Then I took some blood and spread it everywhere… I sat quietly, then I got the teacher’s phone and called 911”, the number of emergencies.
Mia said she no longer felt safe at school.
“I do not want this to happen again,” he pleaded.
Her father, Miguel Serigio, assured that Mia “is no longer the same little girl we played with.”
“Schools are no longer safe, something really needs to change,” he said, with tears in his eyes.
Congress, which is discussing a limited regulatory framework for firearms, also heard the testimony of Roy Guerrero, a pediatrician in Uvalde, who described the children’s bodies as “crushed, decapitated, crushed by bullets.”
“What I do not understand is whether our politicians are abandoning us out of intransigence, passivity or both,” he said.
“As a society, we have disappointed our children,” said Carolyn Maloney, a Democratic lawmaker who hosted the hearing, calling for “ambitious” gun control plans.
US President Joe Biden had promised in the run-up to the election that he would face the “plague” of weapons, which successive governments have so far failed to bring under control. His slim majority in Congress, however, does not allow him to pass a bill to limit gun ownership. He should therefore propose such measures that would persuade at least ten Republican senators to vote on them, as a strengthened majority in the Senate is required.
But in a country where almost one in three adults owns at least one gun, conservatives are reacting strongly to any move that would violate the rights of “law-abiding citizens.”
“We should applaud all law-abiding gun owners who use, store and hold these weapons safely, and not demonize them for political purposes,” Republican Rep. James Comer said during the hearing.
Another witness, Lucricia Hughes of the Women for Arms Rights group, criticized the idea of imposing more controls before buying weapons. “You are deceiving yourself if you think that (the controls) will keep us safe,” he stressed. She explained that her 19-year-old son was shot and killed in April 2016 by a person in possession of an illegal weapon. “Why do not you let me protect myself from evil? “Do you not think that I am capable and worthy of carrying a weapon?” he wondered.
Opinion polls suggest a majority of Americans are in favor of arms controls, but today’s hearing is a sign of division.
The parents of one of the children killed in Ovalde begged Congress, in tears, to take tough measures to curb arms sales.
“Somewhere out there there is a mother who is listening to our testimony; and she does not know that our reality will one day become hers, if we do not take action now,” said Kimberly Rubio, the mother of the murdered Lexi.
The mother of a Buffalo massacre victim, whose perpetrator is said to be a supporter of white supremacy, asked the committee: “What the hell is wrong with this country? “Legislators who continue to allow these mass killings to continue without passing stricter laws should be voted against,” said Zaneta Everhart.
