[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 80 (Wednesday, May 16, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E661]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            SHARING STUDENTS' `MARCH FOR OUR LIVES' REMARKS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 16, 2018

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, on May 9, I came to the Floor and spoke about 
the March For Our Lives on March 24 and the nine extraordinarily poised 
students in Morristown, New Jersey, who spoke at the rally there, which 
I attended. I include in the Record remarks by Isabella Bosrock. I hope 
my colleagues will read them and internalize the sense of fear in which 
our nation's students are living every day--and our responsibility as 
Members of Congress to do something to address this crisis of gun 
violence.

                      March for our Lives Remarks

                         (By Isabella Bosrock)

       My name is Isabella Bosrock, and I am a senior at West 
     Morris Mendham High School. Today you will be hearing from 
     seven incredible high school students from across the 
     district who are here today to say `enough is enough' and 
     `never again' to senseless gun violence. Before we begin, I 
     would like to take a moment and thank Mr. Steny Hoyer, a U.S. 
     Representative for Maryland's Fifth Congressional District 
     and the Minority Whip of the House for being here today.
       On March 20, a mere four days ago, a seventeen year old boy 
     named Austin Wyatt Rollins walked into Great Mills High 
     School with his dad's hand gun and shot two students, one of 
     which was an ex-girlfriend. Reports say he did this because 
     of a recent break up with the girl he shot. The student 
     resource officer on duty, Blaine Gaskill managed with great 
     bravely to shoot and kill the gunman, avoiding the loss of 
     many more lives.
       While this event is incredibly upsetting it is not unlike 
     many things that have happened in the country is the years 
     since Columbine. It is horrible that as adolescents we have 
     become used to the idea that gun violence is a method of 
     dealing with our problems. This pattern of gun violence has 
     been perpetuated by adult lawmakers who refuse to do anything 
     about the bloodshed in their schools.
       I bring this up today because Mr. Hoyer is the 
     representative of the district where Great Mills High School 
     is located, yet he is still here at our march today. Let's 
     all thank him for being here today. I also bring this up 
     because I think that it is so important that we make sure we 
     acknowledge every instance of senseless gun violence that 
     occurs within this country. While Parkland was able to get 
     mass media attention, hashtags on social media and `thoughts 
     and prayers' from everyone around the world, there are so 
     many acts of violence that occur in the U.S. every single day 
     that go completely unnoticed.
       Often times we give them attention for a couple of days, 
     maybe a week, then we forget, and other times we fail to 
     acknowledge them at all. In fact there have been eighteen 
     instances of a gun firing at schools in the U.S. since the 
     beginning of 2018, which averages out to about three per 
     week.
       This cannot be our reality. However many people do not know 
     this because they never gain the same attention as events 
     like Parkland. These other shootings often resulted in no 
     bloodshed or a few injured. But this doesn't mean that they 
     are any less catastrophic because every single life of those 
     students will be forever changed. Each and every day they 
     walk into the school that almost cost them their lives, and 
     they are forced to face their worst fears. The lives of the 
     students in the eighteen schools will never ever be the same. 
     It is so easy for us to watch these catastrophic events 
     unravel on the news for a week, donate money to the cause, 
     post a hashtag on social media, then move on with our lives. 
     But it is so important in our crazy, ever changing lives to 
     never forget.
       We have to make sure that we not only remember to hold the 
     lives of those lost in our hearts, but to make sure that we 
     are holding the people who are accountable, responsible for 
     the lives of innocent people murdered.
       It is up to us to change the future, but these changes will 
     only come by reflecting on the past and acknowledging what 
     happened. Forgetting will not do anything but make us 
     complacent and allow more of these massacres to happen.
       That being said, I encourage every single one of you today 
     to go out and read about the other school shootings that you 
     may have missed and hold those victims in your memory so that 
     we can use those losses to fuel the fire of change.

                          ____________________