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The exchange between Bowman and GOP Rep. Thomas Massie comes after Monday’s killings at the Covenant School in Nashville, where three children and three adults were shot dead.
A Capitol Hill exchange between two lawmakers about gun control led to some name-calling on Wednesday.
Democratic New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman and Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie were leaving the House floor when, in a hallway outside the chamber, Bowan passionately told assembled media of his GOP colleagues: “They’re cowards! They’re all cowards!” USA Today reports. “They won’t do anything to save the lives of our children at all. Cowards.”
Massie walked out to Bowman’s elevated voice and asked what he was talking about before the heated dialogue continued, according to The Hill.
“I’m talking about gun violence,” Bowman replied.
The conversation comes after 28-year-old Audrey Hale stormed The Covenant School in Nashville killing three children and three adults on Monday.
”Question them. Force them to respond to the question,” Bowman continued. “‘Why the hell don’t you do anything to save America’s children?’ And let them explain that all the way up until 2024.”
In a videotaped recording of the encounter, Bowman is heard asking Massie if he’s ever worked in a school before mentioning his own 20-year career in education: Bowman spent time as a teacher, school counselor and middle school principal.
“I was in cafeterias,” he told Massie, “protecting children every day of my career.”
Massie continued telling Bowman that he was “screaming” and to calm down. Bowman responded, “Calm down? Children are dying!”
The Kentucky congressman believes that arming teachers is the answer. Massie says he’s reintroducing the federal Gun-Free Schools Act next week, The Hill reports, which would eliminate the universal ban on guns in school zones.
He claims there’s never been a shooting at a school that allowed teachers to arm themselves, “not even an accidental discharge at any of the schools.”
According to NPR, 74 people were killed or injured by guns in American schools this year. The federal government reportedly does not capture the specifics of school shootings.
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