US Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas) is rejecting calls to pass stricter gun laws and is instead blaming the use of smartphones for a rise in mass shootings.

During a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on gun violence Wednesday, Fallon told members of Congress that guns were around long before mass shootings became disturbingly commonplace in the US.

“The truth is that guns have always been readily available in this country,” Fallon said. “But mass shootings and in particular mass shootings of schools are nonexistent or at least extremely rare until they became a grisly recent phenomenon. So what’s changed in the last 50 years?”

The Republican congressman then proceeded to give his own theory. “There’s been a noticeable breakdown of the family. There’s been an erosion of faith and there’s been a seismic drop in social interactions in large measure due to the overuse of these dang smartphones, and the proliferation of social media, which is probably better described as anti-social media,” Fallon said while holding up his own phone.

Fallon claimed passing gun laws doesn’t work and listed out what he called “real solutions”.

“We must harden our schools with controlled access and single point-of-entry with a tiered entry procedure,” he said. “The main office should be located directly by the front door, which is single-access entry. Classroom doors should automatically shut and lock like hotel rooms do.”

The congressman also called for school teachers and volunteers to be trained and armed through school marshal programmes, increasing the number of school resource officers on campuses, adding more cameras to schools, and training rapid response teams to address threats.

“Our goal should be to protect our children,” Fallon said. “No parent, educators, citizen legislature or nation has a higher calling. Let’s look at real and effective solutions and shelve the divisive rhetoric because American children deserve nothing less.”

Fallon’s comments followed the emotional testimony of survivors of gun violence and their families, including 11-year-old Uvalde, Texas school shooting survivor Miah Cerrillo who told Congress she covered herself in the blood of her friend to play dead as the gunman shot her classmates and teacher.

Other witnesses included Kimberly and Felix Rubio, the parents of fourth grade Uvalde victim Alexandra “Lexi” Aniyah Rubio, who demanded the passage of stricter gun measures during their testimony.

  - TNS