Democrats' usual reactionary push for additional restrictions on firearm ownership in the wake of tragedies like the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas always ignore the fact that existing laws clearly don't prevent criminals from committing crimes. That reality proves inconvenient to the left's attempts to further deprive lawful firearm owners of their rights as some sort of "solution," but it's a reality that Lucretia Hughes Klucken knows all too well.
Her son, Emmanuel, was killed by a convicted felon with an illegal gun — exactly the kind of tragedy Democrats say more restrictions would prevent, as if criminals will suddenly begin following the law. Hughes testified before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday — and her story is powerful.
"On the night of April the 2nd, 2016, my family got a phone call that would change our lives forever. My ex-husband answered the phone and let out a blood-curdling scream — a scream of pain from the depths of his soul," Hughes recalled. "He screamed, he cried 'he's gone, he is gone.'"
"Our 19-year-old son Emmanuel went to a party," she explained. "After we got the call we were frantic. We called his phone — no one answered. We called even the police. I went to Facebook and I had to ask, 'is my son dead?'" Hughes said.
"I found out that he was shot point-blank in the head and killed while playing dominoes," the mother of four and grandmother of nine said. "No one spoke up for weeks and the killer was on the run — no one was going to snitch, but that is the street life."
"Words can't describe how hard it is to bury a child," she emphasized. "I ache for anyone and all who have done the same." Hughes continued, explaining that she doesn't blame the firearm that was used. "My son's death was the result of a criminal with an evil heart, and a justice system failing to hold him accountable for the laws he had already broken," she said. "You see, a convicted felon killed my son with an illegally obtained gun. Our gun control lobbyists and politicians claim that their policies will save lives and reduce violence," Hughes reminded. "Well, those policies did not save my son."
“Gun control lobbyists and politicians claim their policies will save lives and reduce violence. Well, those policies did not save my son.”
— Oversight Committee Republicans (@GOPoversight) June 8, 2022
Emmanuel, Lucretia Hughes Klucken’s son, was killed by a convicted felon with an illegal gun. More from Lucretia & the importance of #2A: pic.twitter.com/MWFdN7mlJI
Turning to address Democrats' new proposals for additional firearm restrictions, Hughes pointed out they are "already implemented in cities across this country" and America has "decades of evidence proving they do not work. St. Louis, New York, Chicago, Washington, Atlanta are gun control utopias," she reminded, "and they are plagued with the most violence."
"Ten more laws, twenty more laws, a thousand more won't make what is already illegal more wrong or stop criminals from committing these crimes," Hughes reiterated. "And you all are delusional if you think it's going to keep us safe," she told the members of the House Oversight Committee. "I am a walking testimony of how the criminal justice system and the gun control laws — which is steeped in racism by the way — have failed the black community."
Growing even more impassioned, Hughes asked Congress, "How about letting me defend myself from evil? You don't think that I'm capable and trustworthy to handle a firearm? You don't think that the Second Amendment...applies to people that look like me?" she asked before pointing out the left's dangerous policies. "You, who are calling for more gun controls, are the same ones that are calling to defund the police. Who is supposed to protect us? We must prepare to be our own first responders to protect ourselves and our loved ones," Hughes said. "I am a legal law-abiding citizen, and I don't need the government to save me."
"Nothing in these bills do anything to make us safer or address the mental health crisis in this country," Hughes continued of Democrats' latest gun-grabbing attempt. "Despite living with the heartache of losing my son on a daily basis, I believe it is our God-given right to defend ourselves from any act of violence," she declared.
"Making it more difficult or even more expensive for me — or people that look like me — and other law-abiding citizens will not make us safer," she concluded. "It will embolden the criminals. Gun owners are not the enemies, and these gun control policies are not the solution."
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