[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 108 (Wednesday, July 6, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H4285]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              PURSUE COMMONSENSE GUN VIOLENCE LEGISLATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, when I arrived home last night, I found 
this note; and I won't say the name of the family who sent it, but I 
will just briefly read a bit of the content.
  ``Dear Congresswoman DeLauro, thank you for standing up for gun 
legislation. My three kids and I traveled from Westport, Connecticut, 
to D.C. today to support all those who are taking a stand. I hope my 
children remember that our government will speak up for those who can't 
and protect those it serves.''
  Stand up and protect. That is the oath of office that we take. That 
is what our job is. And I rise today to urge my colleagues across the 
aisle to pursue commonsense gun violence legislation.
  We need to vote, to vote on legislation that makes an impact on the 
epidemic of gun violence in this country. The people of this great 
Nation are demanding a vote, and we have a moral obligation and a 
responsibility to take action.
  We need to move a no fly, no buy bill, one that actually prevents 
potential terrorists from getting dangerous weapons, and 85 percent of 
the American public supports this legislation.
  When we were elected to serve, we were charged with the 
responsibility, the responsibility to give constituents, our 
constituents, a voice in Washington, D.C. They are crying out for 
action, and if we do not provide that action, what were we sent here to 
do?
  I say very frankly to the American public, if we are not addressing 
this need, send us home. Send us home.
  But our work cannot stop just with no fly, no buy. We need to address 
the issue of universal background checks. I would go a step further. I 
would ban assault weapons. I think we need to hold gun manufacturers 
accountable for crimes committed with their guns.
  I believe we need additional mental health resources, and to fund 
mental health programs sufficiently so that people get the help that 
they need. And we need to conduct research on gun violence.
  For each of us, it is personal. In every community in this country 
the effects of gun violence have left scars, scars that are never going 
to heal. Again, in my State, in Connecticut, we know how devastating 
this can be.
  After the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, we lost six incredible, 
caring adults and 20 beautiful children, and we said, never again. Yet, 
since Sandy Hook there have been hundreds of gun deaths in Connecticut, 
brothers, sisters, children, babies.
  The same story is true across our country, on the streets of our 
cities every day, in movie theaters, in churches, in nightclubs, in 
safe havens. The massacre in Orlando was one of the deadliest shootings 
in American history. Forty-nine people at the Pulse were killed; 
wounded, 53.
  I would just like to take a moment to remember just one of them, 
Kimberly Morris, though her friends called her K.J. She was from 
Connecticut and she worked at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. She had 
recently moved from Hawaii to Orlando to help care for her mother and 
her grandmother.

                              {time}  1100

  Friends said she always wore a smile.
  A former basketball teammate of K.J.'s from Post University in 
Waterbury, Connecticut, said that K.J. was ``the sweetest person--I 
don't think I've ever seen her upset. What I would say is that she had 
a happy soul.''
  She was only 37 when she was murdered at Pulse nightclub. Her death 
and the deaths of the other 48 people who were killed in this atrocious 
hate crime have left a void that cannot be filled for their families, 
for their friends, for the LGBT community, and for the American people.
  The victims' families do not get a break from grief, so we will not 
take a break until we get a bill--a bill with concrete, enforceable 
measures that will stop the killings. We must bring comprehensive, 
commonsense gun violence prevention measures to the floor of this 
people's House and reject measures that fall short of the standards 
this country deserves. It is the very least that we can do for the 
families who suffer grief that most of us will never understand. That 
is what our job is. That is what you elected us to do, to protect 
people, to protect the American people.
  Not one more death, not one more empty moment of silence followed by 
inaction. The American people deserve concrete gun violence 
legislation. They deserve to know that their elected officials are 
standing up for them and protecting them.

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