Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) fired back at Democrats during a markup on Thursday, slamming his colleagues across the aisle for their criticism of Republicans during the ongoing gun legislation debate.
The comments came during a House Judiciary Committee markup of a package of bills that seek to tighten gun control measures in the U.S., including raising the age to purchase semi-automatic rifles to 21 years old and placing restrictions on high-capacity magazines.
“I don’t think that it’s very effective for the children to have people on the other side of the aisle come in and accuse Republicans of being complicit in murder and that we put our right to kill over others’ right to live, to infer by rhetorical supposed questions, who are you here for, we must be here for the gunman, is an outrage,” Gohmert said.
“How dare you. You think we don’t have hearts?” he added.
The gun control debate moved into the national spotlight last month following mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas. Ten Black individuals were killed at a grocery store in Buffalo, and 19 children and two adults were fatally shot at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
Democrats quickly moved gun control to the top of their agenda on Capitol Hill, beginning negotiations on legislation to respond to the massacres.
The House is set to vote on a bill next week that would nationalize red flag laws, which seek to remove guns from people deemed a risk to themselves and others, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday said that the lower chamber will soon consider legislation that calls for banning military-style assault weapons.
While aggressive gun bills are likely to clear the Democratic-controlled House, they are all but certain to face stiff headwinds in the Senate, where Republicans have long opposed many of the measures being considered.
Gohmert during his remarks on Thursday attempted to turn the conversation to violence raging in Democratic-controlled cities, a common Republican talking point, blaming Democratic criminal justice policies for high murder rates.
“We care about people. We care about their lives, and lives have been so trivialized. We care deeply. How dare you. How dare you, you arrogant people, attributing murder to those of us that want to do things to stop it. Because we’ve seen what your ideas do, they create more murder,” he added.