[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 14, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H1549]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1030
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from
Florida (Ms. Frankel) for 5 minutes.
Ms. FRANKEL of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I join with millions of
Americans and the students who are walking out today and who are saying
enough is enough for the gun violence in America.
Seventeen families in Parkland, Florida, are living a nightmare, and
our hearts ache for them and the Parkland community. They join a
growing club of grieving families all over this Nation because their
loved ones were massacred in a place we expected to be safe: a concert
in Nevada, a nightclub in Florida, a college in Virginia, an elementary
school in Connecticut, a church in Texas, a McDonald's in California.
The list goes on.
Last year there were 346 mass shootings in this country, making it
the deadliest year of mass killings in a decade. Ninety Americans a day
are killed by gun violence. These are not just statistics. Ninety
Americans a day means 33,000 grieving families, heartbroken families
who lose a child, a parent, in a click of a trigger.
We have had enough thoughts and prayers for grieving parents and
enough thanks for the first responders that answer the call. The time
now is for action.
I want to especially thank the young people in south Florida and now
across the Nation for their courage, their passion, and persistence.
Students today are demanding we do more than shed a tear and wring
our hands saying it is too complicated. Students are walking out today
because they know there are too many guns in the hands of the wrong
people; too many guns on the street that are made for war, not for
civil society. They know that is why we should ban the sale of assault
rifles and high-capacity magazines and bump stock devices, expand our
background check laws, and reinstate Federal funding for gun research.
There is not just one solution, but it is not so complicated that we do
nothing.
So today I am going to join America's students and I will be walking
out because Americans deserve a better deal, and because enough is
enough.
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