Two days after a Houston police sergeant was shot dead responding to a domestic violence call, the city police chief, Art Acevedo, has lacerated the majority leader Mitch McConnell and Texas’s two Republican US senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz for stalling the Violence Against Women Act.

“I don’t want to see their little smug faces about how much they care about law enforcement when I’m burying a sergeant because they don’t want to piss off the NRA,” Acevedo told reporters on Monday.

Sgt Christopher Brewster was killed in Houston on Saturday. At a briefing the same day, Acevedo paid tribute to Brewster, 32, who was shot repeatedly after responding to a call from a female victim who reported her boyfriend was assaulting her and was armed with two guns.

A suspect, captured at a nearby school, was charged with capital murder.

Acevedo clashed last week with Cornyn over why the Violence Against Women Act was stalled in the Senate, which Republicans control.

He returned to the subject on Monday, speaking to reporters before police provided an escort for Brewster’s body.

“We’ve got to get the Violence Against Women Act acted upon,” he said. “We’ve got to get in a room. I don’t want to hear about how much they support law enforcement, how much they care about lives and the sanctity of lives.

“And yet we all know in law enforcement that this is one of the biggest reasons that the Senate and Mitch McConnell, and John Cornyn and Ted Cruz and others are not getting into a room and having a conference committee with the House, and getting the Violence Against Women Act, is because the NRA doesn’t like the fact that we want to take firearms out of the hands of boyfriends that abuse their girlfriends.”

The NRA says the act’s definition of domestic abuse is too broad. Experts disagree.

“And who killed our sergeant?” Acevedo asked. “A boyfriend abusing his girlfriend. So you’re either here for women and children and our daughters and our sisters and our aunts, or you’re here for the NRA.”

Growing more emotional, he continued: “So I don’t want to see their little smug faces about how much they care about law enforcement when I’m burying a sergeant because they don’t want to piss off the NRA.

“Make up your minds. Whose side are you on? Gun manufacturers? The gun lobby? Or the children who are getting gunned down in this country every single day? In our schools, in our theatres, in our colleges, on our streets, in our homes, in our businesses. Who are you coming to work for?”

The Violence Against Women Act, passed in 1994, lapsed during last year’s government shutdown. The Democratic-controlled House reauthorised it in April, adding protections for transgender victims and banning those convicted of domestic abuse from buying guns.

Responding to Acevedo’s comments last week, Cornyn referred to Donald Trump’s current predicament when he said: “Unfortunately, legislation like this has fallen casualty to impeachment mania.”

The Senate has not yet had to act on impeachment, as House committees continue to stage hearings before staging a formal vote.

On Monday Acevedo rejected Cornyn’s argument. “And don’t tell me, senator, with all due respect, it’s about the impeachment. Because you brag every day, you and Mitch McConnell, about getting judges confirmed. You brag about every piece of legislation you care about.

“Start caring about cops, children and women and everyday gun violence. And that will be the last thing I say this week, because the rest of this week is going to be about Christopher Brewster and his sacrifice.”

Cornyn did not immediately comment. Nor did the NRA.

“You are an American, and American blood is being shed every day in this community throughout this nation,” Acevedo said. “Do something about it or retire.”