As Americans continue to demand the government to implement gun laws to stop mass shootings, one man confronted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) about the issue while he was eating at a restaurant.
According to the Huffpost, the man who confronted the Republican lawmaker is Benjamin Hernandez, another Texas resident. Hernandez was visiting Houston on Friday because his digital advertising company was livestreaming the protests staged outside the NRA convention. When Cruz walked into a Houston restaurant, shortly after attending the National Rifle Association’s convention in Houston to advocate for gun rights, Hernandez decided to confront the conservative about his policies.
Speaking to the Huffpost, Hernandez said, he thought, “Oh, hell no”, when he saw Cruz.
“A couple of days ago, I had caught that clip of Beto [O’Rourke] confronting [Texas Gov. Greg] Abbott, and I wrote something to the effect of, ‘Confront all these hypocritical assholes like Beto did.’ And it’s really easy to tweet, right?” Hernandez told HuffPost. “But then two days later, Ted Cruz is walking in this space where I am, and it’s like, OK, I have to go talk to him now.”
A video posted to social media shows Hernandez first approaching Cruz and pretending to take a photo with the senator. But Hernandez then started to ask Cruz about gun laws, specifically reminding the Republican about the 19 children who died in a mass shooting at an elementary school on Tuesday. The The Texan urged Cruz to implement gun laws that will stop people like Salvador Ramos, who opened fire at Robb Elementary School after he waited until his 18th birthday to legally purchase two AR-15 rifles and more than 1,600 rounds of ammunition.
“Background checks ― is that so hard?” Hernandez said. “You can make it harder for people to get guns in this country. You know that. You know that. But you stand here, you stand at the NRA convention ― it is harder, it is harder when there are more guns to stop gun violence.”
While Hernandez continued to make his case, security eventually intervened and shoved him away. Indivisible Houston, a progressive activist group which identified Hernandez as a board member, shared video of the encounter on Twitter.
#BREAKING: Several hours after #NRAconvention, Indivisible Houston board member @TheBenjaminHdz challenges Ted Cruz to support background checks & other measures during a dinner break at Uptown Sushi.#TedCruzHasBloodOnHisHands #TedCruzChildMassacre #TedCruzLovesDeadKids pic.twitter.com/NL5GAkKZ80
— Indivisible Houston (@indivisibleHOU) May 28, 2022
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is working toward a compromise on gun control measures, HuffPost reports. Congress, however, has failed to pass meaningful reform despite repeated incidents of mass shootings.
“The time for civil discourse and debate ― when they allow it, which they don’t ― that’s over, to me,” Hernandez said. “It is uncomfortable. Yes, it was uncomfortable for me to go and do that ― that’s not me. My mom was even surprised that I dropped the F-bomb. But this week has had me dropping F-bombs, because I’m just so incensed that they would stand there and not do anything about it.”