A new organization called NRA Children’s Museum tries to increase awareness the toll mass shootings are taking on American children – and the Texas Senator ted cruz is his first goal.
On Thursday, a fleet of more than 50 gun-shaped school buses drove to Mr. Cruz’s Houston home
“To commemorate this terrifying historical moment, through this all-too-real archive, we are showing American voters the toll these politicians have taken on the lives of our children.” NRA The co-founder of the children’s museum, Manuel Oliver, explained in a statement.
“And that is just the beginning. We won’t stop at Senator Ted Cruz. To all the politicians who have stood by, taken NRA funds and refused to listen to the people they represent: the museum is on course to honor you next.”
Mr. Oliver founded the organization along with his wife Patricia after they lost their son Joaquin in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
The fleet of buses making its way to Mr Cruz’s home contained 4,368 empty seats to represent the number of children killed armed force since 2020. Gun violence is now the leading Cause of injury-related deaths of US children after overtaking motor vehicle accidents in recent years.
Mr. Cruz, who represents a state that just suffered a gruesome mass shooting at an elementary school earlier this spring, is a natural target for the movement to enact tougher gun laws.
Unlike senior Texas Sen. John Cornyn, Mr. Cruz opposed a gun reform bill introduced in the Senate in the days after the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, although it did not contain outright gun bans.
Throughout his career, Mr. Cruz has been a staunch opponent of gun control measures, having – perhaps most importantly to the activists who visited his home on Thursday – taking more than half a million dollars from pro-gun organizations and groups during his Senate career.
In fact, Mr. Cruz took more money from the gun lobby than any other person currently serving in Congress.
‘We’re after the money,’ Mr Oliver said in one go interview With BuzzFeed News. “These leaders are not loyal to the Second Amendment. They are loyal to the arms industry and the manufacturers they protect. And there are many messages that supporting gun control is not patriotic. It’s corrupt and I wanted to find a visual way to show them what the implications really are.”
Mr Oliver was also in the headlines Earlier this week, while calling on President Joe Biden to stop taking action against gun violence at a White House press conference, he was taken away by Secret Service agents.
The bus that led the procession to Mr Cruz’s home was filled with memorabilia and personal items belonging to children killed in school shootings, including a Miami Heat jersey worn by Joaquin. There have been more than 300 mass shootings in the United States this year alone.
