[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 99 (Thursday, June 9, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H5413]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN
(Mr. CICILLINE asked and was given permission to address the House
for 1 minute.)
Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to
support reinstating the assault weapons ban.
The AR-15 has become the weapon of choice for shooters looking to
kill as many people as possible in as little time as possible.
Researchers estimate that if we still had a Federal assault weapons ban
we would see 70 percent fewer mass shooting deaths.
The number of mass shootings has skyrocketed since the original
assault weapons ban expired in 2004. These weapons have been used in
the deadliest shootings in our history from Sandy Hook to Parkland to
Uvalde. They are weapons of war that have no place in our community.
This is the amount of damage which is done by one bullet fired by an
AR-15 as it enters the body. That is the bullet. That is the size of
the damage. The bodies of kids in Uvalde were riddled so badly with
wounds that their parents had to use DNA tests to identify their own
children. One family identified their child by their shoes--their
shoes.
These weapons don't just kill. They slaughter, and they decimate.
They are designed for death and maximum destruction. They have no place
in our schools or in our streets or anywhere in our communities.
We know that the original assault weapons ban worked. We have to
reinstate it before more innocent lives are lost.
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