As some attendees held photos of Robb Elementary School victims, the Hondo City Council voted 4-1 Monday to revoke a rental agreement that would have allowed members of the Medina Area Friends of NRA to hold a fundraiser at a city-owned site about 8,000 inhabitants. The move comes as the massacre in nearby Uvalde — the deadliest US school shooting in nearly a decade — has reignited debate over US gun laws and public safety. Before Monday’s vote, Jazmin Cazares, whose sister died in the Uvalde massacre, addressed council members, naming each of Uvalde’s victims — 19 fourth-graders and two teachers — and describing how at least some survivors would perceive the NRA’s publicized charity event as a gun raffle with a chance for an AR-15, the group’s Facebook page says. Investigators found one of the 18-year-old Uvalde shooter’s AR-15 rifles at the school after law enforcement killed him. “It’s a slap in the face to all of Uvalde, especially to those who lost a loved one, some of us here today. What’s even harder is the AR-15 you get if you donate $5,000 to the NRA,” he said. . “What you decide to do next with this NRA meeting either proves me right or wrong about how I feel about Hondo.” Nikki Cross, whose relative Uziyah Garcia was among those killed at Robb Elementary, “wasn’t here protesting the NRA or anything like that,” she said. “I’m just standing here asking your community to take note that it’s only been two months for us.” “What happened to ‘love your neighbor?’ Isn’t this here? That particular gun they give it, what if it falls into the hands of another angry 18 year old? Then it may be your children who are at risk, and we will endure. I just ask you to postpone it. Give us time to grieve. We’ve already been through enough,” he added. Days after Uvalde’s mass shooting, the NRA hosted its annual conference in Houston, with former US President Donald Trump and other GOP leaders rejecting nationwide efforts to overhaul gun laws and mocking Democrats and activists who they are asking for change. The foundation that had planned the Hondo event “is not the NRA. Although affiliated, the foundation is a separate legal entity. All the Friends of NRA foundation does is raise funds to further their charitable and educational mission.” , Sandy Steubing, a Hondo resident and volunteer with the charity, said Monday. The annual Medina Area Friends of NRA event has been held in August for 15 years, “and we’ve been planning this event since March,” he added. The group did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment. “These events are planned months in advance to raise funds for local programs that promote safe and responsible gun ownership. Punishing hundreds of volunteers and participants at the 11th hour for the crimes of a sick, evil criminal is misguided and wrong.” Lars Dalseide, a spokesman for the NRA, told CNN via email. Another Texan, identified as Hank C. during public comment, defended the “constitutionally protected event.” “There’s no reason for you all to sit here and vote for it. This is still America, isn’t it?” he told council members. “I don’t even understand why we’re having this conversation, guys. Guns don’t go away.” But he was interrupted by Angel Garza, whose daughter Amerie Jo Garza, was killed at Robb Elementary. “You have no idea. You have no right to tell us how to feel. You have no right to tell us how to feel. I’m getting out. I’m leaving,” said the man, who noted “His daughter died still saying daddy; she wasn’t even old enough to reach the stage to call me daddy.” “You don’t know what we’re going through. No one in this room has the right to tell us how to feel,” she added as she left the room. Council members adjourned the executive committee meeting to vote and then returned to announce their decision.
