Activist and Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg was escorted out of a House hearing on banning assault weapons after shouting at an Arizona Republican who suggested the weapons were needed to guard against an "invasion" at the U.S.-Mexico border.
During a hearing Wednesday hosted by the House Judiciary Committee, Hogg interrupted Rep. Andy Biggs as the lawmaker characterized border crossings as an invasive threat and argued that a Democratic bill to ban certain semi-automatic rifles would prevent Americans from protecting themselves amid an “invasion on our southern border.”
Hogg stood up in the audience and shouted, “You are reiterating the points of mass shooters in your manifesto. The shooter at my high school: antisemitic, anti-Black and racist. The shooter in El Paso described it as an invasion."
"Guess what, those guns are coming from the United States of America. They aren’t coming from Mexico," he added.
Hogg tweeted video of the incident, where he was seen being escorted from the hearing room by security.
When reached for comment, Capitol Police told NBC News in an email: "He was told to be quiet or leave. He left."
The bill under discussion at Wednesday's hearing was introduced by Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, who played audio from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead in 2018. Hogg was a student at the time.
President Joe Biden last month called on Congress to pass measures including a ban on assault weapons. The House has not brought such a bill to the floor.
Congress last month passed the most sweeping legislation designed to prevent gun violence in nearly 30 years. The bill, signed into law by Biden, provides grants to states for “red flag” laws, enhances background checks to include juvenile records and closes the “boyfriend loophole” by keeping guns away from nonspouse dating partners convicted of abuse.