Rep. Jamal Bowman (D-NY) entered into a Capitol building shouting match with his Republican counterpart, Rep. Thomas Massie, on Wednesday over the chamber’s repeated failed efforts at gun control.
The incident began when Bowman, a former school principal himself, forcefully told reporters outside the House chamber that the press should be more proactive in questioning conservative lawmakers who have long fought against policies that would make it more difficult to obtain and possess firearms.
“They’re cowards! They’re all cowards!” Bowman shouted as he left the House chamber, video of the moment shows. “Children are dying!”
“Question them! Force them to respond to the question, ‘Why the hell don’t you do anything to save America’s children?’”
Massie, who overheard the remark, hit back by saying: “You know, there’s never been a school shooting in a school that allows teachers to carry”—which really set Bowman off: “Carry guns? More guns lead to more dead!” he exclaimed, while pleading with him to “look at the data.”
After a dramatic back and forth between the pair, Massie walked away, saying, “You’re just screaming at me.”
The incident comes just two days after yet another school shooting, this one at a Christian elementary school in Nashville called The Covenant, claimed the lives of three students and three employees of the school—as well as the shooter.
The bloodshed began Monday morning just after 10 a.m. when the suspect, since identified as 28-year-old Audrey Hale, shot through a locked glass door and began mowing down people inside the building.
Hale was a former student at the school, police said, and suffered from an undisclosed emotional disorder. Police also confirmed that Hale identified as transgender—with one family member telling The Daily Beast that Hale “relatively recently” started using he/him pronouns.
Nashville officials identified the three children killed in Monday’s massacre as William Kinney, Hallie Scruggs, and Evelyn Dieckhaus, all of whom were nine years old. The adults who died are Katherine Koonce, 60, the head of the school, Cynthia Peak, 61, a teacher, and Mike Hill, a beloved custodian who students affectionately referred to as “Big Mike.”
Bowman has experience in schools just like Covenant—he was a teacher in the Bronx before he co-founded a public middle school there called Cornerstone Academy for Social Action, where he also served as principal.
“I was in cafeterias protecting kids every day of my career,” Bowman said after the Wednesday’s incident with Massie, dismissing the Republican’s suggestions.
