Parkland father is removed from a gun control hearing in Congress and pinned down by Capitol Police

The parents of a student killed in the 2018 Parkland school shooting were arrested and forcibly removed from a congressional hearing on Thursday.

Manuel and Patricia Oliver, whose teenage son Joaquin was killed in the attack, were in Washington DC for the House Oversight Committee hearing titled: ‘ATF Attack on the Second Amendment: When Is Enough?’

Pat Fallon, a Republican congressman representing Texas, said increased gun control was not a solution to gun violence, noting the high level of gun ownership in Mexico even though it is extremely difficult to buy guns legally.

Pointing out that no new laws are needed, he said: ‘You cannot legislate to eliminate evil.’ However, this irritated the parents of the Parkland victim.

Fallon said: ‘Gun control in Mexico is very strict. All firearms in Mexico are supposed to be registered.

‘Mexico has 124 million inhabitants…’

He was then interrupted by Patricia Oliver, who reportedly yelled that her son had been taken.

Joaquin’s father was pinned to the ground by Capitol Police and later arrested. It is not clear if the police officers will press charges.

Onlookers were heard yelling: ‘What are they doing to this man? He is a grieving father.

Joaquin Oliver was killed by a mass shooter at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day in 2018.

The Olivers were evicted from a White House event last year after Manuel Oliver interrupted Joe Biden for not doing enough on gun control.

‘Uh-woah, ma’am. Lady. Very well, please eliminate that woman. You are eliminated. You are breaking protocol and disorder in the committee room. Officers, please remove it.

Manuel Oliver yelled that the committee was ‘full of shit’.

Fallon said, ‘And take off the gentleman too.’

Fallon then read into the room the committee rules, which prohibited interruptions.

Outside the committee room, Manuel Oliver was manhandled by Capitol Police and pushed to the ground. Supporters chanted: ‘He’s not violent!’

Fallon, hearing the commotion, called for a recess.

Maxwell Frost, the youngest member of Congress at 26, condemned Fallon’s actions.

Frost, from Orlando, served as the national organizing director for March for Our Lives, the student activist group created by Parkland survivors.

“Losing a child to gun violence, seeing the pictures of your child sitting in a pool of blood, I can’t imagine that,” she said.

“You know, Manny and Patricia have dedicated their lives to fighting for a world where true justice can be achieved, because unfortunately, there is no justice for the dead, and true justice is ensuring that this never happens again.”

Frost, in whose office hangs a piece of art created during his campaign by Manuel Oliver, called the couple “American heroes.”

“And what they always say is that they don’t want their son Joaquín to be remembered as a victim, they want to remember him as an activist.”

Frost noted that the leading cause of death for American children is gun violence.

“Today, the Republicans on this committee chose to sit across from those parents, and the survivors, organizers, and advocates who are sitting in the audience right now, people who are reliving their trauma listening to this, people affected by gun violence across the world”. nation, and show that their priority is lobbying gun money, manufacturers profiting from death, and creating false narratives for political gain,’ he said.

He then walked out of the hearing, saying it “didn’t make sense” while Republicans are still slaves to the gun lobby.