[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 194 (Wednesday, December 14, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H9739-H9740]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             PARENTS MAY MOVE FORWARD BUT NEVER FULLY HEAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Georgia (Mrs. McBath) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. McBATH. Mr. Speaker, on Black Friday, 10 years ago, my son, 
Jordan, was murdered at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida, because 
the man simply didn't like the loud music he and his friends were 
playing in their car. He called them gangbangers and thugs.
  Within 3\1/2\ minutes, he pulled out a gun from the glove compartment 
of his car, took a shooter's stance, and fired 10 rounds at the car, 
hitting my son, Jordan, three times, killing my only son.
  A month later, a man who should never have had access to an assault

[[Page H9740]]

weapon murdered 20 children and 6 staff at Sandy Hook Elementary 
School.
  The love that a parent has for our children is different. It is 
unique in that our love for everyone else has a beginning, but for our 
children, our love has no end.
  When your child is born, it is hard to understand how you are capable 
of feeling so much love. It is a love so precious and pure that it 
flows through your soul. As they grow, your love grows with them. Each 
day, you can't imagine loving them more, and yet every day you are 
proven wrong.
  Oftentimes we can feel vulnerable with this love and all the fear 
that comes with it. Being a parent is like that. If everything goes 
right, if we do everything we can for our children, the very worst can 
still happen.
  Principal Dawn Hochsprung and psychologist Mary Sherlach yelled to 
their colleagues: ``Shooter. Stay put'' when they investigated the 
first shots. They were the first killed as they alerted the others.
  Janitor Rick Thorne ran through the hallways alerting classrooms of 
the danger. He used his master key to lock many of the doors for them. 
The key was so worn from use that it snapped in one of the doors.
  The first graders in Lauren Rousseau's classroom were not allowed to 
grow. Lauren had worked at Sandy Hook for a week. She had tried to hide 
them in the bathroom. She had fought to keep them safe. Fifteen of her 
students were killed. Fifteen first graders were murdered in a bathroom 
by a man with an assault rifle.
  One 6-year-old girl played dead among the bodies of her classmates. 
She was the only one to survive in that room. Covered in blood, the 
first thing she said was: ``Mommy, I'm okay, but all my friends are 
dead.''
  The next room the killer entered was that of Victoria Soto, who did 
her best to conceal her students in a closet. Some were hiding under 
desks. As the gunman fired at them with his Bushmaster, he stopped to 
reload. Six-year-old Jesse Lewis shouted at his classmates to run for 
safety, and several did. Jesse was looking directly at the shooter when 
he was murdered.
  Anne Marie Murphy, a special education teacher, was found shielding 
6-year-old Dylan Hockley. The bullets took them both.
  Victoria's sister, Jillian, was captured by photographers in what 
some call the defining photo of that horrific day. She is forever 
immortalized on the phone, sobbing, receiving that devastating phone 
call, the call that is a sucker punch to your stomach, the phone call 
that brings you to your knees when your desperation simply will not let 
you stand, that leaves you gasping for air when the agony will not let 
you breathe.
  A decade ago, my child was murdered. The very last day I saw my son, 
Jordan, he was wearing red sneakers. He had khaki-colored slacks on and 
a black backpack slung over his shoulder as he walked out the door. He 
said: ``I love you, mom'' before he got on the plane to Jacksonville, 
Florida. Jordan talked about coming home for Thanksgiving, and that day 
still haunts me.
  In Newtown, parents watched their children walk out the front door, 
and some never saw them again. We are left only with the memories of 
our loved ones and the lost dreams of what could have been.
  Parents may move forward but never fully heal. They never fully 
recover.
  In honor of their legacy, it is imperative we continue to fight for 
lifesaving policies such as universal background checks, safe storage, 
ghost gun regulation, an assault weapons ban, and so much more.
  In the words of a well-known writer:

     ``To value life of others
     ``Is to acknowledge the sanctity of yours
     ``To feel for the ruin of others
     ``Is to respect the existence of yours
     ``To fight for the freedom of others
     ``Is to preserve the liberty of yours"

                          ____________________