[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 109 (Thursday, July 7, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H4482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               GUN SAFETY

  (Ms. ADAMS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, ``Teen killed in shooting that led to crash 
near ER in Charlotte.''
  ``Man shot and killed in uptown Charlotte.''
  ``Man found shot to death in Thomasville July 4th.''
  ``Man shot in Freeman Mills Shopping Center.''
  ``Shooting outside Florida Street Grocery Store in Greensboro.''
  ``Winston-Salem woman caught in crossfire.''
  The media and my Republican colleagues have focused attention on 
which words we have used instead of the need to define the terms. As a 
former educator, let me define the word ``epidemic.''
  Webster defines it as something ``affecting a disproportionately 
large number of individuals within a population, a community, or a 
region at the same time.''
  The headlines I cited earlier define the term ``gun violence 
epidemic,'' an epidemic faced in my home State of North Carolina and 
across this country, an epidemic so vast that it took the life of Kevin 
Rodas, a 7-year old boy shot while playing in the front yard of his 
Charlotte home.
  Let's cure these epidemics. Pass sensible, bipartisan gun safety 
legislation to prevent future acts of gun violence like Orlando or the 
one that took little Kevin's life back in my district.

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