[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 22, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E706-E707]
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

                         Tuesday, May 22, 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 Benjamin Douglas. 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 Benjamin Douglas

       Mass shootings have been becoming a more and more common 
     part of our society for years now. By the time I became aware 
     of this, many ordinary people had already begun to work 
     toward change. One such person was a close friend of mine who 
     took part

[[Page E707]]

     in and introduced me to the Sandy Hook Ride on Washington 
     also known as Team 26. Team 26 is an organization of twenty-
     six cyclists and activists who every year, ride together from 
     Newtown, CT, to Washington, DC, in order to honor the twenty-
     six lives lost in the Newtown School Shooting, raise 
     awareness of gun violence, and the ever-growing need for 
     common sense gun legislation. His participation in this ride 
     and my discovery of it opened my eyes to many things 
     regarding the topic of gun violence.
       Firstly, it got me thinking about my own town's 
     vulnerability to this ever growing issue. I had grown up 
     believing that my town was immune to the epidemic of gun 
     violence. But with my new outlook on the conflict, I found 
     that it has become increasingly difficult, almost impossible 
     to still confidently say this. I realized that no town in our 
     country is more or less likely to experience these types of 
     tragedies.
       Also, I thought about how gun violence and other forms of 
     mass violence had affected my childhood. Seemingly endless 
     lock-down drills, news stories of `another shooting,' and 
     hearing my peers discuss what they would do if they were ever 
     in a scenario such as a school shooting. I knew that no one 
     should need to worry about their safety or think about how 
     they would react in public places during an avoidable tragedy 
     like this. I felt strongly about this and wanted to make a 
     difference.
       Through watching the men and women who rode their bikes 
     from Newtown, CT, to Washington, DC, stop along the way to 
     hold rallies, call people to action, and spread hope wherever 
     they went, I saw ways I too could make a difference. The 
     following year, I rode with Team 26, and I witnessed the 
     rallies at which many of the family members and friends of 
     people who had lost their lives to gun violence spoke about 
     their experience.
       During our rally in Trenton, we heard members of Mothers 
     Demand Action speak about the loss of their sons and 
     daughters, we learned exactly how it felt to have someone you 
     love so dearly taken from you forever due to a strangers ease 
     of access to a firearm.
       Here, in Morristown, we met and rode with a mother whose 
     life was turned upside down by a man who discharged a firearm 
     in a mall, seriously hurting her, and killing her fifteen-
     year-old daughter!
       Listening to these people speak helped me discover the real 
     reason I was there.
       I was riding with Team 26 to be a messenger.
       We were listening to these people speak first-hand about 
     when their loved ones were taken by another person with a gun 
     and how it felt and affected their lives.
       We took these peoples' experiences and stories to the 
     elected officials in the states we visited and in our 
     nation's capital to educate them on what is really going on 
     in their country.
       It is so easy to be unaware of how often shootings occur as 
     most shootings go unreported and therefore are quickly 
     forgotten by those not involved. But for the friends and 
     family whose friend, child, or sibling had been taken from 
     them, any of these occurrences are life changing.
       We ride to ensure that no life gets forgotten.
       We ride to educate our lawmakers about gun violence beyond 
     the statistics, to show them not only the numbers, but who 
     those numbers represent and the heartbreak and sorrow they 
     live with.
       We ride to encourage these lawmakers to begin making 
     change.
       To urge their peers to stand up with them against gun 
     violence.
       To vote for common sense gun laws such as mandatory 
     background checks, banning assault rifles and bump-stocks, 
     and helping to make mental healthcare more accessible and 
     accepted nationwide.
       Team 26 shares many of its goals with the hundreds of other 
     organizations and groups who are currently battling the 
     nationwide epidemic of gun violence now more than ever. We 
     all must now come together as one group and refuse to be 
     silenced.
       We must continue to organize these events and never stop 
     making noise until our representatives get it.
       Until they understand that gun violence is not a problem 
     that is going to fix itself and that the citizens they 
     represent are relying on them to become part of the solution.
       In order to convince our representatives that the voice of 
     many is more powerful than ever, we must never give up and 
     become an active part of our society. You can do this in 
     countless numbers of ways.
       If you are seventeen or older, make sure you are registered 
     to vote.
       If you are eighteen or older, make sure that you do vote.
       No matter what your age is, you can get involved and make 
     your voice heard. In fact, you already have by attending this 
     event and hopefully attending more in the future to show that 
     we will never go away.
       Unfortunately, it is unlikely this will be the end. But we 
     must all make a continuous effort to keep the pressure on and 
     to fight for what is right. Without the power of the people, 
     this conflict will never have a solution.
       So we must press on, ride on, never give up, and pledge to 
     being the generation that will create the place where this 
     will never happen again.

                          ____________________