U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) is getting roundly criticized over his remarks during the House Judiciary Committee’s debate on moderate gun control measures as America faces a mass shooting epidemic.
Gohmert has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2005. Until recently he was best known for coining the term “terror babies,” an anti-immigrant attack based on his unsubstantiated claim that there were young children being brought into the United States by undocumented parents and raised to become domestic terrorists.
On Thursday, Rep. Gohmert responded to criticism from California Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell, who challenged Republicans who oppose gun control measures to attend the funerals of those massacred by gun violence.
“Are you here for our kids, or are you here for the killers?” Rep, Swalwell asked. “Because if you were here for the kids, you would do all you could to protect the next school shooting that’s about to happen, and we know it’s gonna happen in America.”
“You would vote to raise the age on purchasing an assault rifle,” Swalwell continued. “You would vote to ban high-capacity magazines, you would vote to require safe storage and you would vote to address ghost guns, which are ravaging communities across America.”
“But if you’re here for the killers, you would do everything to make it easier for the next school shooting to happen,” the California Democrat charged.
“How dare you? You think we don’t have hearts,” a very angry and emotional Gohmert replied. “We care about people. We care about their lives and lives that have been so trivialized. We care deeply. How dare you? How dare you? You arrogant people attributing murder to those of us who want to do something to stop it.”
“It’s just that when we look at the things that you’re doing, and you’re trying to do to America, we’ve seen the carnage,” Gohmert claimed. “Democrats control the major cities that have the worst murder rates — your ideas have been shown to get people killed.”
A study found that murder rates are highest in Republican-controlled states.
Republicans in the House and Senate have accepted countless millions of dollars from the NRA, which opposes any gun control legislation, even red flag laws that would allow family members to ask police to temporarily take a person’s gun if their behavior warrants it.
Gohmert was mocked and criticized.