Delivers opening statement on Sutherland Springs shooting before Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on improving the federal background check system
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee today delivered an opening statement on the recent shooting in Sutherland Springs before the Judiciary Committee’s hearing titled ‘Firearm Accessory Regulation and Enforcing Federal and State Reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.’
Sen. Cruz said, “Congress in the wake of this [shooting], naturally asks, ‘What can we do?’ I can tell you what multiple survivors of Sutherland Springs said to me when I met with them. Over and over again they volunteered, and said the answer to this is not gun control. One woman, a mom whose son was in surgery said, ‘You know, we all had our guns. We just left them in the car. We left them in the car out of respect for the church. If any one of us had brought our guns in, this madman would have been stopped.’ The answer, I believe, is not in restricting law-abiding citizens. Law-abiding citizens like Stephen Willeford whose heroism saved lives that day. The answer instead is stopping criminals and madmen from getting guns.”
Watch Sen. Cruz’s opening statement here and read the full text of his opening remarks below:
“Sutherland Springs in Texas saw a truly horrific mass murder. I was in Sutherland Springs the day after the shooting. I stood in that sanctuary where over 450 bullets had been fired. Pews overturned, shattered glass, pools of blood, as those who had come that Sunday morning to worship, hid in fear and terror while a deranged lunatic walked down the center aisle of a small country sanctuary and systemically executed every man, woman and child he saw with a rifle shot to the head. Shooting as young as 18 months old.
“I’ve spent time with the pastor and his wife who lost their 14-year-old daughter. Holding them, crying with them, praying with them. I’ve spent time with the victims. One individual lost eight members of his family including his parents and wife and unborn child. One little girl who is 7 saw two of her siblings murdered right in front of her. Heidi and I have a 7-year-old daughter at home. I don’t know how that precious girl moves on from that tragedy.
“One of the shooting victims when I visited him in the hospital at Brooks Army Medical Center, he had a ventilator on, his right arm was badly shot up but he could write with his left hand. And he wrote in skragly text, ‘Don’t blame God. This is evil.’ We saw the face of evil in Sutherland Springs. It’s the most horrific thing I have ever seen in my life.
“We also at the same time saw incredible bravery. Stephen Willeford, a neighbor who lived a block away. His daughter called him and said, ‘Someone is shooting at the church!’ Stephen Willeford ran to his gun safe and pulled out his rifle, an AR-15, and he ran a block to the church barefoot, didn’t bother to put on his shoes. He sheltered behind a pickup truck. The shooter was still in the church – was still executing people. Indeed, he had his rifle pointed at one woman. When Stephen Willeford engaged him, and brought him outside the church. What proceeded was a gunfight. The shooter fired repeatedly at Willeford. I saw – I stood by the pickup truck where Willeford sheltered. Behind him the house had bullet holes in the walls and windows. Stephen Willeford was an NRA rifle instructor. He shot the shooter twice, once in the side and once in the leg. The shooter threw down his rifle, jumped in the car and sped off. Stephen Willeford waved down Johnnie Langendorff – who he didn’t know – and said, ‘Somebody just shot up the church.’ He jumped in the truck with him and the two of them followed the shooter and called 911 were speaking to police directing where the shooter was. The shooter pulled over and finally took a gun, and took his own life.
“The day after the shooting I spoke with Stephen Willeford. He’s a humble, simple man. He’s a plumber. Media has descended upon him. He is not interested in the media attention at all. What he said that next day, he said, ‘Look, I’m not a hero. I don’t know why people are using words like that.’ He said, ‘I was scared out of my mind. I was terrified.’ My response, I said, ‘Mr. Willeford, courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is acting in the face of fear.’ And I’ll tell you what a half dozen law enforcement agents told me that day on Monday and then I was back there all day Wednesday of that week. And they said the same thing. Had that individual citizen not engaged, not risked his life, many more people would have been murdered that day.
“Congress in the wake of this, naturally asks, ‘What can we do?’ I can tell you what multiple survivors of Sutherland Springs said to me when I met with them. Over and over again they volunteered, and said the answer to this is not gun control. One woman, a mom whose son was in surgery said, ‘You know, we all had our guns. We just left them in the car. We left them in the car out of respect for the church. If any one of us had brought our guns in, this madman would have been stopped.’
“The answer, I believe, is not in restricting law-abiding citizens. Law-abiding citizens like Stephen Willeford whose heroism saved lives that day. The answer instead is stopping criminals and madmen from getting guns. And the thing that is infuriating is this shooter – it was illegal for this shooter to have a firearm. Existing federal law – it was illegal. And the reason that he had a firearm is the federal government screwed up. In 2013 Chairman Grassley and I joined together in introducing legislation, Grassley-Cruz. Voted on in the floor of the Senate. Got the most bipartisan votes of any of the comprehensive legislation voted on. A majority of the Senate voted for Grassley-Cruz. 52-48. Nine Democrats voted for it.
“What did Grassley-Cruz do? It directed the federal agencies go through, review criminal convictions and get them in the NICS database. Directed the attorney general, make sure the agencies have complied. If it had passed, the Air Force should have caught this conviction and reported it to the database. And it also directed the Department of Justice – prosecute the felons and fugitives who try to illegally buy firearms. Stop ignoring these as paperwork offenses. If a felon comes in and lies and tries to illegally buy a firearm, put him in jail. In April of 2016, this shooter went into an Academy, lied on the form, purchased a gun, and if Grassley-Cruz had passed, he should have been prosecuted, put in jail, and if he was in a federal jail, he would have never murdered anyone in Sutherland Springs. We need to stop criminals from getting guns.”