[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 112 (Tuesday, July 12, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H4672]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1215
                        GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION

  (Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico asked and was given 
permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend 
her remarks.)
  Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, there have 
been 231 mass shootings in 193 days so far in 2016. That is more than 
one per day. We are all directly affected by this gun violence epidemic 
in this country. In my own State and community, we have in fact seen a 
dramatic increase in this violence.
  We cannot passively accept that the epidemic of gun violence kills as 
many people as car accidents every year. And while the mass shootings 
in this country have in fact become commonplace, I cannot continue to 
bear witness to the totality of human suffering that this is causing: 
the mothers and fathers who have lost children, the children who have 
lost parents, thousands who have lost loved ones, and all those who 
will in fact endure a lifetime of pain and suffering.
  That is why, Mr. Speaker, I joined all my Democratic colleagues in an 
unprecedented sit-in to urge Republican leadership to allow us to vote 
on legislation to close glaring problems in our Nation's background 
check system, including a loophole that has allowed 2,000 individuals 
on the FBI's terrorist watch list to successfully purchase a firearm 
since 2004.
  Americans have a constitutional right to live without fear of gun 
violence in our communities.

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