Everhart, Gramaglia testify in favor of gun control, but Republicans resist

But that divide remains, judging from the reaction of Republicans at Wednesday's House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on the recent slaughters in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas.

Zeneta Everhart noted that a racist with an AR-15 is charged with wounding her son, Zaire Goodman, while killing 10 African-Americans at the Tops Markets on Buffalo's East Side on May 14. And she said that maybe the gunman grew into a racist because he didn't learn enough in school about the history of race in America.

"We cannot continue to whitewash education, creating generations of children to believe that one race of people are better than the other," she said.

Hearing what appeared to be Everhart's defense of the "critical race theory" that Republicans are vilifying in school districts across the nation, Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia appeared to say, under his breath, "Oh my God."

And Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia called for gun control measures, saying: "It is time to make changes to a system that is leaving blood on the sidewalks of our communities every day."

But later in the hearing, Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican, upbraided Gramaglia for supporting "red flag" laws that allow law enforcement officials to take guns away from people believed to pose a threat to themselves or others. Tossing his pen over his shoulder to punctuate his point, Higgins said: “You’re a police commissioner, a thin blue line brother, sworn to uphold the Constitution, and you’re saying you’d seize those weapons. I see that as a problem.”

So it went during three hours of gut-wrenching testimony from the witnesses from Buffalo and Uvalde, which often appeared to be met with either passivity or hostility from Republicans on the panel.

Everhart's testimony was among the most gut-wrenching of all. 

"To the lawmakers who feel that we do not need stricter gun laws, let me paint a picture for you," she said in a firm but halting voice. "My son Zaire has a hole in the right side of his neck, two on his back and another on his left leg, caused by an exploding bullet from an AR-15. As I clean his wounds, I can feel pieces of that bullet in his back. Shrapnel will be left inside of his body for the rest of his life. Now, I want you to picture that exact scenario for one of your children. This should not be your story or mine."

Everhart wasn't finished.

"If after hearing from me and the other people testifying here today does not move you to act on gun laws, I invite you to my home to help me clean Zaire's wounds, so that you may see up close the damage that has been caused to my son and to my community," she said.

Everhart – an aide to State Sen. Timothy Kennedy, a Buffalo Democrat – also delivered a damning critique of American history, saying it contributed to the violence and racism of today.

"America is inherently violent," she said. "This is who we are as a nation. The very existence of this country was founded on violence, hate and racism with the near annihilation of my native brothers and sisters. My ancestors brought to America through the slave trade were the first currency of America."

Except for Clyde, lawmakers sat in stony silence through Everhart's testimony – although the Washington Post noted that Rep. Glenn Grothman, a Wisconsin Republican, rolled his eyes during her comments on race.

Complete coverage: 10 killed, 3 wounded in mass shooting at Buffalo supermarket

Everhart testified as part of a panel with witnesses from Uvalde who provided harrowing descriptions of the May 24 massacre of 19 fourth-graders and two teachers. Dr. Roy Guerrero, a pediatrician from Uvalde, said two of the young victims he saw had been decapitated, their flesh ripped apart by the gunfire. And Felix and Kimberly Rubio described their frantic search for their daughter Lexi, whom they later discovered was one of the gunman's victims.

Through tears, Kimberly Rubio called for banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, but acknowledged she would have to settle for lesser measures such as tighter background checks and a minimum age of 21 for weapons purchases.

"We understand that for some reason, to some people, to people with money, to people who fund political campaigns, that guns are more important than children," she said. "So at this moment, we ask for progress."

Rubio and Eberhart were never asked to respond to questions from lawmakers, but Gramaglia met with questions both friendly and hostile.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat, displayed a Twitter ad by Daniel Defense, a Georgia-based manufacturer of AR-15-style weapons.

The ad showed a child with an assault weapon and quoted the Bible's Book of Proverbs. "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it," the ad said.

Krishnamoorthi then asked Gramaglia to comment on the ad.

"I think that picture behind you is very disturbing," Gramaglia replied. "Many children in our country, because of a lack of safe storage of weapons, have either accidentally taken their own lives or (killed) somebody else in that household or another friend within that house who was there visiting. It's disturbing."

Testifying on behalf of the Major City Chiefs Association, Gramaglia said the group favors a ban on the kinds of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines like those used by the shooter in Buffalo. 

"Assault weapons like the AR-15 are known for three things: how many rounds they fire, the speed at which they fire those rounds and body count," he said. "This radicalized 18-year-old adult should have never been able to have access to the weapons he used to perpetrate this attack. And the laws needs to be enacted to ensure it never happens again."

Invoking the name of Tops security guard Aaron Salter Jr., who was killed in the massacre, Gramaglia said even a retired cop like Salter could not stop a heavily armed gunman protected by body armor.

"It is often said that a good guy with a gun will stop a bad guy with a gun," Gramaglia said. "Aaron was the good guy and was no match for what he went up against: a legal AR-15 with multiple high-capacity magazines. He had no chance."

But Clyde, the Georgia Republican, argued that the quick and "very impressive" police response in Buffalo proves that police officers are well-armed to counter mass shooters with assault weapons.

And House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican who was seriously wounded in a 2017 shooting at a congressional baseball practice in Virginia, argued that any kind of proposal to ban guns would have been tantamount to banning planes after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“Airplanes were used that day as the weapon to kill thousands of people and to inflict terror on our country,” Scalise said. “There wasn’t a conversation about banning airplanes. There was a conversation about connecting the dots – how can we try to figure out if there are signs we can see to stop the next attack from happening?”