[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 25 (Thursday, February 6, 2020)]
[House]
[Page H858]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       LOSING LOVED ONE TO GUN VIOLENCE IS WOUND THAT NEVER HEALS

  (Mr. SCHNEIDER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SCHNEIDER. Madam Speaker, like so many of my colleagues, I rise 
today during National Gun Violence Survivors Week.
  We mark this occasion at the beginning of February because with a gun 
death rate 10 times greater than other developed nations, more 
Americans have already been killed with guns in 2020 than are killed in 
the entire year in our peer countries. We are a Nation suffering an 
epidemic of gun violence.
  Each year, more than 36,000 Americans are killed in acts of gun 
violence, and an additional 100,000 are injured by firearms.
  The trauma caused by this violence is not limited to the victims. 
Losing a loved one to gun violence is a wound that never heals.
  If this were any other epidemic destroying lives on such a great 
scale, we would have long ago taken action.
  To be fair, in this House, we did act. Nearly a year ago, we passed 
bipartisan background check legislation, H.R. 8, to close loopholes 
that allow gun sales to go unchecked. In the Senate, Leader McConnell 
is blocking a vote and choosing obstruction over saving lives.
  Enough is enough. For all the survivors of gun violence, this week, 
we demand action.

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