Gun control group’s bus convoy drives by Sen. Cruz’s office to raise awareness about children killed by guns

HOUSTON, Texas (KWTX) – Gun control group Change The Ref on Thursday rolled out what it called the “NRA Children’s Museum,” a mile-long convoy of school buses that drove by the offices of Senator Ted Cruz, who the group claimed is “the leading recipient of gun lobbyist funding in the State of Texas with $749,000.”

The mile-long convoy consisted of 52 school buses, “whose empty seats represent the 4,368 children who would have sat there but instead fell victim to gun violence,” the group said in a news release.

The “NRA Children’s Museum” was on display in the school bus leading the convoy. “This unthinkable collection will be filled with photos, videos, audio recordings, and personal memories of the children who have lost their lives to shootings since 2020,” the group said.

“Because of politicians like Sen. Ted Cruz and the NRA, who enable assault rifles to be the best-selling gun on America’s streets, the child death toll this year has hit an all-time high,” Change the Ref claimed in a news release.

A spokesperson for Senator Cruz sent a statement to KHOU, the CBS affiliate in Houston.

“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,” the spokesperson said.

Citing information from the Centers for Disease Control, Change the Ref claimed that, since 2020, firearms have overtaken car accidents to become the leading cause of death in children at 4,368.

“Despite this tragic theme, Senators and House members representing Texas have received more than $14 million in contributions from gun rights interests over their careers,” the group said.

Change The Ref on Thursday called on Sen. Cruz to “immediately renounce future political funding from the NRA and listen to the people’s will to enact legislation for universal background checks – a commonsense gun law reform that an overwhelming percentage of his constituents in Texas support, including Republican voters.”

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