[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 112 (Tuesday, July 12, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H4668-H4669]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  OUR NATION IS TIRED OF GUN VIOLENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, our Nation is grieving. We are tired. We 
are tired of the violence that too often unsettles our communities.
  What a week we had last week. We were horrified by the deaths of 
Lorne Ahrens, Michael Smith, Michael Krol, Patrick Zamarripa, and Brent 
Thompson--five officers murdered by a sniper in Dallas while they were 
on duty.
  We saw very troubling videos of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling 
being shot.
  Today we also mark the 1-month anniversary of the shooting at the 
Pulse nightclub in Orlando, a hateful act on the LGBT community that 
took the lives of 49 people. This shooting shook the country, as have 
the many mass shootings that have preceded it.
  As we still process these deaths, daily violence continues in 
communities around the country. Over the weekend, the total number of 
shootings in Chicago, where I come from, this year exceeded 2,100. Over 
300 people in Chicago have now died from gun violence in 2016.
  I have received hundreds and hundreds of letters from constituents of 
all ages concerned about the effect of gun violence in our communities 
and in their communities.
  Yesterday I received a letter from a young constituent, an 8-year-old 
named Kaline. She wrote: ``I read the Sun-Times every day like my dad. 
I read and still think about the story of Tyshawn Lee. It's just 
hitting my mind all the time because it's not fair. It makes me cry.''
  Tyshawn Lee was a 9-year-old boy in Chicago deliberately 
assassinated, shot multiple times in the head.
  Kaline continues: ``I hope people can make better decisions about 
what to do with guns. I hope people stop fighting about whether we 
should do gun control because I worry more people and kids like Tyshawn 
will be killed.''
  We can't accept violence as normal. This is not the country Kaline 
should have to grow up in. And how do you explain to an 8-year old that 
in America, with 91 people dying from gun violence every single day, we 
have taken no meaningful action?
  We take action all the time to protect our kids from threats to their 
safety. We have regulations in place on teddy bears and pacifiers, to 
protect children's health and safety, but nothing for guns.
  Guns are specifically exempted from regulation by the Consumer 
Product Safety Commission, the agency charged with protecting consumers 
from unreasonable risk or injury or death. Gun manufacturers are 
protected from liability for damage caused by their weapons. The 
Centers for Disease Control is actually prohibited, in law, from 
studying the public health risk of guns.
  Robert, a 91-year-old and a veteran of World War II from my district 
wrote: ``You know better than I do the vast array of efforts to protect 
the American people from the recklessness and avarice in the 
marketplace, yet Congress has failed the people in the matter of gun 
control . . . Today the

[[Page H4669]]

American public is crying for laws,'' he says.
  Robert is right. I can think of no other product or industry that has 
so few measures in place to protect our safety, and we need to rethink 
our approach to guns. We can't put the interests of gun manufacturers 
and the gun lobby ahead of the safety of our communities. Those of us 
in Congress have the power to do something, and it is long past time 
for us to act.
  We can start with measures that have broad support among the American 
people. Ninety percent of Americans support comprehensive background 
checks. Background checks would help reduce the flood of weapons that 
come into Chicago from gun shows and online sales.
  Would it stop every shooting? Of course it wouldn't. But would it 
save some lives? Absolutely.
  My heart goes out to the families in Dallas and Orlando and Chicago 
and so many other places that have had the lives of their loved ones 
stolen away by gun violence, and we need to grieve. But after that 
moment of silence, we must direct our sadness and our anger into 
action.
  The problem of violence in communities may seem insurmountable, and 
no single policy will stop every death. But we should start by passing 
commonsense gun legislation supported by the vast majority of the 
American people.
  We need a vote on legislation to keep guns out of the wrong hands. 
Republicans and Democrats and gun owners and NRA members agree that 
background checks for every gun purchase and closing the gun show 
loopholes and all the other loopholes will help.
  So give us a vote, Mr. Speaker. My constituents are crying for 
action. Let's act, not ignore their cries any longer. Give us a vote.

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