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The House voted in favor of raising the minimum age requirement for purchasing semi-automatic rifles along with a slate of other gun restrictions as Uvalde shooting survivors and victims' families shared their testimonies with lawmakers, USA Today reports.
In a 223-204 vote mainly along party lines, the House approved a sweeping gun control package on Wednesday (June 8) that would crack down on gun trafficking, prohibit bump stocks, and increase the minimum age to buy a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21 among other measures. Known as the Protect Our Kids Act, the bill passed by the House will unlikely make it past the Senate due to its slim Democratic majority and the GOP push to block gun restrictions.
Before the vote, the House Oversight and Reform Committee heard heartbreaking testimonies from those affected by the mass shooting at Robb Elementary school including Kimberly and Felix Rubio, whose daughter Lexi was killed, and Miah Cerrillo, the fourth-grader who covered herself in her classmate's blood and played dead in order to survive the Texas massacre.
Cerrillo told lawmakers via video that she played dead for 78 minutes before help arrived. The 11-year-old said she's afraid to go back to school after surviving the mass shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers.
When asked if she believes another shooting will occur, Cerrillo said "yes" while nodding her head up and down.
The Rubios also testified describing their last moments with Lexi, who was fatally shot hours after she was recognized for earning all As and given the "good citizen award" at the school's award ceremony. The now-mourning parents attended the ceremony and told their daughter they would get ice cream after school to celebrate her achievements.
"I told her we loved her and we would pick her up after school," Rubio testified via video. "I could still see her walking with us towards the exit. In the reel that keeps scrolling across my memories, she turns her head and smiles back at us to acknowledge my promise. And then we left."
"I left my daughter at that school and that decision will haunt me for the rest of my life," Rubio added.
At the end of her testimony, Lexi's mother said, “Somewhere out there there's a mom listening to our testimony, thinking I can't even imagine their pain. Not knowing our reality will one day be hers, unless we act now.”
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