[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 35 (Tuesday, February 27, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H1319]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  PASS THE ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN OF 2018

  (Ms. PINGREE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. PINGREE. Mr. Speaker, Sandy Hook, Orlando, Las Vegas, Sutherland 
Springs, and now Parkland. The common denominator between all these 
awful tragedies has been the use of assault weapons. Built to kill, 
these customizable weapons have allowed gunmen to slaughter dozens of 
innocent people swiftly, easily, and with no special training.
  Since the ban on assault weapons lapsed in 2004, far too many of 
these weapons have ended up in the wrong hands. There is no one 
solution to reducing the mass shootings and other forms of gun violence 
in our Nation, but reinstating the ban on assault weapons would be a 
critical first step. I urge all of my House colleagues to put public 
safety before the gun lobby and pass the Assault Weapons Ban of 2018 to 
keep weapons of war off the streets and out of our schools.
  I have heard from students across Maine who want to feel safe in 
their schools. They do not want their classrooms to look and feel like 
prisons. They do not want to live in fear that someone could enter 
their school with a firearm that is capable of committing mass murder. 
We owe it to the generation of students who are growing up against a 
backdrop of lockdown drills and mass shootings. We need to act like 
adults and protect them by banning assault weapons.

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