[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 109 (Thursday, June 28, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E942-E943]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING ROSA BILSTON

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROSA L. DeLAURO

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 28, 2018

  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Ms. Rosa Bilston, my 
constituent from New Haven, for her commitment to the nation and to 
public service. Despite recent shootings at schools across the country, 
Congress has

[[Page E943]]

failed to pass any meaningful reform to school safety or firearm 
regulations.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues in the house not to forget that at 
the core of this discussion is the fact that the lives of children like 
Ms. Bilston are impacted every day by gun violence. It is with great 
pride that I include in the Record the powerful words of Ms. Bilston.


              rosa bilston, age 11--speech on gun violence

       Today I would like to talk about gun violence. A few months 
     ago, 17 people were killed at Parkland school in Florida. 
     Then, a few weeks ago, 10 people were killed in a shooting in 
     a Texas school.
       Hearing about this was very hard for me because my family 
     is from Texas. It shook me to know that children were killed 
     in a place I feel so close to.
       When I was in Kindergarten, there was a shooting in Sandy 
     Hook, Connecticut. Many children died. This was told to me at 
     the time, but I didn't remember it for a long while. We were 
     just about to leave for Germany, and our minds were focused 
     on leaving the country.
       I remembered it again after the Parkland shooting and at 
     first I found it appalling that two shootings could be so 
     close together in our country.
       But then I realized there were lots more school shootings 
     in America. In fact, this year, there have been 22 school 
     shootings. And this spring, a friend of mine lost her friend 
     in Guilford. He was handling a gun. It wasn't a school 
     shooting but he was still killed by a gun. This was appalling 
     to me and to my friend.
       I'm talking about guns today for two reasons. The first is 
     that children should be aware of this, because it is 
     happening to children.
       The second is that I strongly believe President Trump 
     should ban assault weapons. These kill lots of people very 
     quickly. I would also like to see more background checks: at 
     present people who are mentally troubled are able to own war 
     weapons which are made to kill mass numbers of people. These 
     should not be owned by anyone other than people in the army.
       I personally do not believe that anyone should own a gun, 
     but I understand that others do not have this view. My 
     grandmother in England has a gun. I definitely believe, and I 
     think others can agree with this, that the conditions here 
     for gun owning should be the same as they are for my 
     grandmother. Her gun is kept in a locked cabinet, away from 
     ammunition. The police check this every year, and every year 
     she completes paperwork to prove that she is still healthy. I 
     believe this should be the norm here too.
       The way I think we should change policy is by protesting. 
     Over the past years it has been the grown-ups who have been 
     saying that things are not okay. Congress has not changed 
     anything. The government has not changed anything. Obama 
     tried to ban assault rifles during his presidency but 
     Congress said no. So now grown-ups have tried everything they 
     can. Congress must hear a new voice. That is the voice of 
     children, our friends and our neighbors and classmates. It 
     should not just be those with personal connections to those 
     who've died, it should be all those who see something here is 
     wrong.
       If the new generation doesn't step up to the plate, nothing 
     will happen. As Dr. Martin Luther King said, ``Our lives 
     begin to end the day we become silent about things that 
     matter.'' We must not be silent. Thank you.

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