[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 8, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H5340]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN CONTROL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
the Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. PLASKETT. Madam Speaker, I have shared before that my father was 
for many decades a New York City police officer. He had to carry a 
firearm to protect himself and others, but was acutely aware of 
individuals on the street, often with guns illegally, who could harm 
him and those he was tasked to protect.
  I do not oppose the right of American citizens to own guns, or intend 
to rob any constitutional rights. But, we all know that money, hatred, 
and power have used the Constitution to cover themselves from showing 
the real intent that they have, the love of greed, desire for power, 
ignorance, racism, hatred. That is what many are using that 
constitutional protection to cover themselves from.
  Over 50 percent of gun violence is attributable to people who use 
handguns to commit suicide. The remainder of those deaths and injuries 
are largely homicide and murder, such as widespread street crime. Then 
there are mass killings, which have been on an uptick in recent years.
  On May 24, in Texas, an 18-year old boy acted as a lone gunman in the 
second deadliest school shooting on record. Armed with a semiautomatic 
rifle and 375 rounds of ammunition, he entered Robb Elementary School, 
opened fire, and laid waste to 19 children and two teachers. The 
pervasiveness and regularity of such occurrences in the United States 
has reached epidemic levels.
  In 2020, 45,222 Americans died of gun-related injuries, more than any 
other year on record. That is a 14 percent increase since 2019; a 25 
percent increase since 2015; and a 43 percent increase since 2010. In 
this year alone, almost 19,000 people have already lost their lives; a 
number, evidenced by the events of the past couple of weeks, are only 
on the rise.
  This weekend alone, over a dozen mass shootings took place: Buffalo, 
Texas, Philadelphia, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma, so 
many more. These mass killings are just the tip of the iceberg with 
respect to gun violence carnage in America.
  Firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens in 
this Nation. How many more children will be sacrificed before action is 
taken? How many more schools will we allow to become battlefields and 
burial grounds for the sake of the cloak that many are using the 
Constitution for.
  The time for action is now. We know that our gun violence epidemic 
can be substantially curtailed with thoughtful, reasonable commonsense 
gun legislation. This includes raising the age, as we have done for so 
many things, for automatic purchases to 21, and developing and 
implementing more comprehensive background checks to prevent situations 
like the Buffalo shooting and the Uvalde massacre.
  We need to strengthen gun laws for gun trafficking, which is 
devastating our country. Areas with strong gun laws cannot curtail the 
influx of illegal guns trafficked in from States with few restrictions. 
Places like New York City and Chicago cannot curtail the illegal 
weapons coming from other places.
  With higher unemployment rates, places like my home, the Virgin 
Islands, has the second highest rate of guns smuggled across its 
borders and a homicide rate nine times higher than the 50 States.
  As well as better establishing and regulating gun storage to prevent 
minors from acquiring deadly weapons, it is necessary for Members on 
both sides of this debate to come together to protect the lives of our 
citizens.
  Throw off the cloak that you are using, calling our Constitution to 
hover and hide what you are really protecting: money, power, hatred.

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