A former Marine went viral after posting video of himself handing his AR-15 over to Oregon police following last month’s mass shooting in Texas.
Last week, former Marine Ben Beers, 37, turned himself in the day after the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and turned over his rifle and pistol to the Hillsboro Police Department in Oregon.
“Today I’m turning in my guns to the Hillsborough Police Department, both my AR-15 and my 9MM pistol, I don’t want them anymore,” he begins TikTok.
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“Today I’m turning in my guns to the Hillsborough Police Department, both my AR-15 and my 9MM pistol, I don’t want them anymore,” says Ben Beers in his TikTok
Beers showed off his guns in his case before finally giving them up after the Uvalde shooting
Mourners place flowers at crosses with the names of children killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas
“I know this isn’t going to change legislation or anything related to gun culture in America, but hopefully it will be some form of symbolism and hopefully America can wake up because no other country is having the problems it is having.” we with gun culture and ideas and guns have violence as we do,” Beers added.
Beers called for a change to the Constitution and the law, and then showed his guns in his case before going into the police station and listing the police documents that listed his confiscated guns.
Beers says he was inspired to give up his guns after 18-year-old Salvador Ramos opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 students and two teachers before authorities shot him dead
“I was up all night, tossing and turning, crying and shaking,” Beers told KGW.
The former Marine said although he owned and sold guns for years, the Texas tragedy was his breaking point.
“I just want to give them up, have them destroyed,” he said.
He hopes his video, which has garnered nearly 200,000 views, can inspire others to give up their guns.
Beers displayed his guns before going into the police station and into the police file, which listed his confiscated guns
President Biden was pushing for sweeping gun control even beyond what the House is negotiating as he urged Congress to “do something!” For God’s sake, do something!’
Police take a picture outside the Natalie Medical Building in Tulsa as police respond to a shooting that killed four people
“Hopefully we can all wake up soon and realize that this needs to be done… that’s an idea. Guns are not as valuable to us and my Second Amendment rights are not as valuable as my children’s lives at school,” he told KGW.
Gun violence has continued to rise across the country as more than 150 people were killed across America over the Memorial Day weekend.
There were at least 14 “mass shootings” in the United States over the weekend, from early Friday morning through late Monday, according to the Gun Violence Archive, an institute that tracks shootings in the country.
At least nine people were killed in the mass shooting and more than 60 people were injured, according to the archive, which defines mass shootings as incidents in which at least four people are shot and injured or killed, with no gunman included.
The latest mass shooting took place on Wednesday, killing at least five people, including the gunman from a self-inflicted gunshot, in the shooting at the Natalie Building at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa.
On Thursday night, President Biden addressed the country, declaring “enough, enough” and calling on Congress to ban assault weapons, expand background checks and implement other gun control measures.
“For heaven’s sake, how much more carnage are we willing to accept?” Biden asked.
Biden described visiting Uvalde, Texas, where the school shooting took place. “I couldn’t help but think that there are too many other schools here in America, too many other everyday places that have become battlefields and battlegrounds.”
The President, a Democrat, called for a series of measures opposed by Republicans in Congress, including banning the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines or, failing that, raising the minimum age to purchase these weapons to 21 years 18. He also urged removing liability protections that protect gun manufacturers from being sued for violent crimes committed by people carrying their guns.
“We cannot disappoint the American people again,” Biden said, urging Republicans, particularly in the U.S. Senate, to put bills with gun control measures to a vote.
Biden said that if Congress didn’t act, he believed Americans would make the issue a priority when they vote in November’s midterm elections.