HOUSTON — A convoy of 52 school buses headed to Senator Ted Cruz's office this morning, according to the anti-gun violence group Change the Ref.
The Yellow Bus Project included empty seats on each bus to represent the 4,368 American children killed by gun violence since 2020, the group says.
The lead bus included what they're calling the "NRA Children's Museum."
The group says it was filled with "photos, videos, audio recordings, and personal memories of the children who have lost their lives to shootings since 2020 – from a Nickelodeon backpack from Santa Clarita, California to a girl scout sash from Santa Fe, New Mexico."
Change the Ref said they chose Cruz because he receives more funding from gun lobbyists than any other Texan politician. A report from the bipartisan group Opensecrets.org showed Cruz received more donations than any other member of Congress with $442,343.
Change the Ref was founded by Manual and Patricia Oliver whose son Joaquin was one of 17 victims in the 2018 Parkland, Florida mass school shooting.
The Olivers said they would present Cruz with a “gift”: a letter from their son asking for background checks on gun sales written when he was 12.
"There is no such a thing as a perfect time for these kinds of things," Oliver said in Houston. "I think all the time is necessary to raise our voices and do our action."
A spokesperson for Cruz sent us the following statement:
“Senator Cruz is committed to enacting policies that would stop school shootings. To that end, he introduced legislation to double the number of school resource officers, hire 15,000 school-based mental health professionals to ensure there is early intervention to identify and help at-risk kids, to provide significant resources for enhanced school safety, and to improve the gun background system and prosecute persons who try to illegally buy guns.”
At an NRA convention in Houston just days after the Uvalde school shooting that left 19 students and two teachers dead, Cruz spoke out against a bipartisan gun bill that eventually passed.
“We must not react to evil and tragedy by abandoning the Constitution or infringing on the rights of our law-abiding citizens,” Cruz said.
In 2020, firearms became the leading cause of death in children in America, according to the CDC.
Change the Ref said this was just the first stop in a nationwide tour that will include stops at the offices of other members of Congress.
RAW VIDEO: 52 buses protest gun violence in downtown Houston
