[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 5, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H769-H770]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      GUN VIOLENCE SURVIVORS WEEK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
New Jersey (Mrs. Watson Coleman) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me say that my 
heart hurts for my colleague and my sister, Lucy McBath, as she 
confronts on a daily basis the pain of our failure to act on sensible 
gun safety legislation.
  I rise today, as many of my colleagues will, almost one year since 
the House took the steps to curb violence by passing H.R. 8, a bill 
that has yet to receive any consideration in the Senate.
  We are in the middle of Gun Violence Survivors Week. Yet, despite 
survivors' calls for action; despite the calls of parents and friends 
who have lost loved ones to guns; despite the calls from our young 
people who just want to be safe in school; and despite our calls of the 
communities who want to be safe in their homes, we have yet to get H.R. 
8, or any other gun violence bill considered in the Senate.
  The paralysis around preventing gun violence is disgusting, and it is 
deadly. This story line that preventing people from buying assault 
weapons or stockpiling ammunition is somehow infringing upon their 
rights is deeply hurtful, and it is wrong thinking.
  Including suicides by guns, there were 177 deaths on New Year's Day 
alone. There were three mass shootings, and the lives lost included 
three children between the ages of 12 and 17. That's just one day, the 
first day of this year. Yet, Republicans in the Senate continue to 
refuse to move any bill that might keep more families from getting that 
phone call.
  There are so many options available to us. There is the baseline, 
bipartisan bill, like, H.R. 8, that we have already passed in the 
House. There are bills that would go even further, like my own Handgun 
Licensing and Registration Act of 2019, and the Stop Online Ammunition 
Sales Act of 2019.
  One would require registration for handgun purchases, just like the 
government requires registration and basic standards for voting, 
operating a vehicle, even opening a business. It would ensure 
accountability and allow enforcement to identify threats.
  The other places a very basic principle into law; that you shouldn't 
be able to stockpile bullets without ID or without law enforcement 
being aware.
  Mr. Speaker, there are bills that would keep guns out of the hands of 
violent criminals, and bills that would push us to study gun violence 
as the health crisis it is. So far, none of these seem to be good 
enough for most of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, or the 
other side of the Capitol.
  We are approaching a point from which we cannot return, where failure 
to act will normalize gun violence in our schools, in our 
neighborhoods, and in our society.
  The survivors that we honor today, the families of those we have 
lost, and the countless Americans who wonder if they might be next 
deserve so much more from us.

[[Page H770]]

  I stand here today representing all of the loss of the survivors and 
what they have experienced. But I stand here, representing the hope 
that my granddaughter, Kamryn Anne Marie Watson, is safe in her school, 
just like all of the other children should be. Nothing less is 
acceptable.

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