Mile-Long Line Of Buses Drives To Ted Cruz's House With Message On Gun Violence

A bus convoy representing the amount of children killed by gun violence made its way to the home of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) on Thursday.

The convoy, a mile-long featuring 52 yellow buses with 4,368 empty seats, is the work of the “NRA Children’s Museum,” a project organized by the gun control advocacy non-profit Change the Ref, mySanAntonio reported.

The number of empty seats on the bus represents the number of children who died from gun violence in the last two years, according to the non-profit.

The line of buses will also feature a bus at the front that contains clips, photos and other “personal memories” of the children who died by gun violence, according to the news site.

Some of those memories included a medal that Sandy Hook shooting victim Chase Kowalski received in school along with a pair of Vans sneakers worn by Santa Clarita shooting victim Gracie Muehlberger. 

The NRA Children’s Museum indicated there would be more stops for the bus tour in the future, according to mySanAntonio.

Change the Ref is founded by Manuel Oliver, a man who interrupted President Joe Biden earlier this week during a speech on gun control, and his wife Patricia.

Their son, Joaquin Oliver, was one of the students who died during the Parkland, Florida school shooting in 2018.

Manuel Oliver, in a press release, said the project is showing American voters “the toll” politicians have on children with an “all-too-real archive.”

“And this is only the beginning,” the shooting victim’s father said.

“We will not stop with Sen. Ted Cruz. To every politician who has stood by, taken NRA money, and refused to listen to the people they represent: the museum is on the way to honor you next.”

The demonstration that led to Cruz’s home also included Manuel Oliver delivering a nine-year-old letter about gun control written by his late son.

“Most of you have a problem with the idea of a universal background check. Why are you mad that there’s a background check [if] it’s for your own good...,” the son wrote in his letter.

Change the Ref, in an Instagram post on Thursday, confirmed it left the letter for Cruz.

“I wonder if you had chance to read it? I think it’s time for you to listen to our son and start prioritizing kids over the NRA’s money,” the caption read.

The NRA has donated $176,274 to Cruz, according to gun control advocacy nonprofit Brady: United Against Gun Violence.

He’s received 100% ratings from gun rights groups Gun Owners of America and the NRA along with a 92% rating from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, according to nonprofit Vote Smart.

Patricia Oliver, in a statement, said her group wanted to display the consequences of voters’ choices through the demonstration.

“We want voters to remember which politicians are in the pocket of the NRA when they visit the polls in November,” she said.

“We urge everyone to join us in our mission to fight for every innocent soul lost to gun violence and to demand universal background checks on gun sales.”

The bus demonstrations come after Change the Ref organized a fake graduation ceremony in Las Vegas last year that tricked David Keene, an NRA board member and past president of the group, into speaking at a “rehearsal” for the phony ceremony.

The empty seats at the “rehearsal” were meant to represent thousands of students who should have graduated had it not been for their deaths due to guns.