By Sarah Ferris
Rep. Lucy McBath — whose teenage son was shot to death in 2012 — could have been sitting on the witness stand on Wednesday.
Instead, the Georgia Democrat spoke about her son’s slaying from her own seat among lawmakers at the House’s first gun-specific hearing in 12 years.
“As many of you know, gun violence is an issue that is deeply personal to me,” McBath said in a dramatic moment in the packed room, which fell silent as she spoke. She told the committee room that her son, Jordan, would have turned 24 this month.
“It’s in that pain that drives me to do this work to prevent gun violence,” McBath said, using extra speaking time that was given to her by a more senior member of the panel.
McBath was elected in November in a blue wave that has helped drive the Democratic Party's most aggressive push to strengthen gun laws in decades. After years of resistance from Republicans and even inaction from Democratic leaders, the House now plans to vote on a spate of gun restrictions in the first 100 days of its new majority.
Democrats had the conversation Wednesday that they’ve wanted to have since the elementary school shooting in Newtown — and the theater shooting in Aurora, the church shooting in Sutherland Springs, the nightclub shooting in Orlando, the concert shooting in Las Vegas and the high school shooting in Parkland, Fla.
It’s the House’s first hearing on gun legislation since 2007, though Democrats also held a forum on gun violence in Chicago in 2010.
For nearly four hours and counting, the hearing room was packed with advocates who had lost family members, friends or classmates, or had survived gun violence themselves. In all, more than a dozen Democrats spoke in favor of tighter policies, including background checks and assault weapons bans.
At times, it resembled a political rally: dozens of people — mostly students — packed into the room burst into applause after particularly poignant statements from Democrats or witnesses. Multiple times, Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler had to remind the crowd not to clap.
One audience member who yelled out during the hearing was nearly ejected after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) went off topic to make the case for a border wall to prevent crime by undocumented immigrants: “If we really cared about safer streets, we would build a wall and secure the border,” he said as tension began to build in the room.
For the first time in years, Democrats delighted in going on the offense: House Democratic Conference Chair Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) needled one of the GOP's witnesses, a law school professor at George Mason University, whose position is funded by the National Rifle Association.
"The NRA has given $1 million to endow a position that you now hold," Jeffries said, as some in the crowd laughed.
Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), chairman of the House’s Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, sat in on the hearing after years of demanding action from House GOP leaders.
“This is the first time that this issue has been taken up in the hearing process, so it’s understandably an emotional afternoon,” Thompson said during a short break after watching the hearing, where he was repeatedly cheered by other Democrats during their remarks.
What was largely left out of the hours-long discussion, however, is the lack of support from the Senate.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) said he felt a "renewed sense of hope" after the historic hearing. But he and his colleagues didn't address the GOP-controlled Senate that has no interest in taking up any of the House's gun restrictions.
After last year's deadly school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, Trump's own televised comments in favor of background checks and even an assault weapons ban began to stoke the possibility of bipartisan action. But Trump later changed course.