A caravan of 52 yellow school buses is set to travel to Senator Ted Cruz's house in Houston, Texas, on Thursday morning (July 14).
The busses will form a mile-long procession and contain 4,368 empty seats - which organizers say is to honor the number of children killed by gun violence this year.
They'll also ferry items belonging to school shooting victims, including a pair of Vans from Gracie Muehlberger, 15, killed at her Santa Clarita high school in 2019; a kindergarten graduation card with a teddy bear on it from Sandy Hook victim Chase Kowalski; and a Miami Heat jersey belonging to Joaquin Oliver, who died in the Parkland school shooting in 2018.
Joaquin's father, Manuel Oliver, is the artist behind the protest, which is named 'The NRA Children's Museum'.
In an interview with BuzzFeed News, he explained the name of the exhibition, saying: "It’s partially with the intention that some people will think this is truly an NRA museum."
The grieving father went on to say he was targeting Sen. Cruz in particular because of his reported history of accepting money from the NRA. Per BuzzFeed News, Cruz has allegedly received a total of $749,000 from the pro-gun group to date.
"We’re going after the money," he explained. "These leaders are not loyal to the Second Amendment. They’re loyal to the gun industry and manufacturers, who protect them."
As well as pulling up at Cruz's house with the schoolbuses and children's possessions, Oliver also plans to hand deliver the senator a letter that his late son wrote when he was just 12 years old.
The letter, which Joaquin wrote for a school project, reads:
"Most of you have a problem with the idea of universal back round check. Why are you mad that there’s a back round check it’s for your own good maybe you are fond of having crazy people with death machines. You shouldn’t have anything against back round checks if you’re innocent. [sic]"
Oliver says that he and his wife keep the letter as a reminder of why they were working to bring in gun controls. "My son knew, at 12 years old, what to do better than Ted Cruz. I want [Cruz] to read that with his own eyes," he said.
This isn't the first time Oliver has used his public art to advocate for gun controls. Last year, he organized a fake graduation and invited a former NRA official to speak to a room of over 3,000 empty seats. Each seat represented a child victim of gun violence in America.
His most recent protest comes in the wake of the devastating school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which saw 21 students and teachers killed.
