[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 17 (Thursday, January 26, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H344-H345]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN VIOLENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
New Jersey (Mrs. Watson Coleman) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today not only for Half 
Moon Bay and Monterey Park, but for Oakland, Goshen, and San Francisco; 
for Dallas and for Houston; for Red Springs, High Point, and Durham; 
for Chicago and Rockford; for Tunica Resorts; for Baton Rouge, 
Shreveport, and New Orleans; for Fort Pierce, Sanford, Homestead, 
Ocala, and Miami Gardens; for Phoenix; for St. Louis; for Cleveland and 
Columbus; for Allentown, Philadelphia; for Minneapolis; for Denver; for 
Albany, Georgia; for Huntsville; for Enoch; for Baltimore; for 
Dumfries; and for Washington, D.C.
  We are 26 days into the new year, and in those 26 days, there have 
been 40 mass shootings in our country. That is 40 mass shootings--73 
innocent Americans killed. These were mothers, fathers, sons, and 
daughters who should still be with us today. My heart is broken for 
every single, solitary one of them.
  How much more heartbreak must our Nation endure?
  How many more lives must we lose?
  How many more times must we watch as another safe space, another 
sanctuary, another school, or another celebration becomes a site for a 
shooting?
  How many times must I come to the floor and make this plea?
  Our moments of silence won't save a single, solitary soul.
  We have seen more mass shootings in the first month of 2023 than in 
any other January on record. The new year should mark new beginnings, 
new progress, and new hope. Instead, we find ourselves moving backward. 
In less than a month, this year has become one defined by shock and 
sorrow.
  Every other country in the developed world has managed to rein in gun 
violence. In 1996, Australia enacted commonsense firearm regulations 
following a mass shooting, and gun deaths were cut in half. In the 
U.K., just one school shooting pushed the government to pass lifesaving 
gun violence prevention measures. New Zealand banned assault weapons 
almost immediately after the Christchurch massacre.
  Where our peer nations choose to act, America chooses to stand by in 
the face of tragedy after tragedy after tragedy.
  A safer America is possible. We can end the gun violence epidemic. We 
can build a culture of rational, reasonable, and responsible firearm 
ownership. We can ban the weapons of war used in so many mass 
shootings. In fact, we have done it in the past.
  From 1994 to 2004, the United States banned assault weapons. During 
that time, gun deaths plummeted, but they shot right back up as soon as 
the ban was lifted.
  We have the resources and the precedent to do that again. What we 
need is the political will. Ending gun violence is not an issue of 
can't. It is an issue of won't.
  My Republican colleagues won't ban assault weapons, they won't ban 
large magazines, and they won't pass universal background checks.
  The gun violence epidemic is a stain upon the fabric of our Nation, 
and that stain grows deeper every second that Congress chooses not to 
pass substantial gun violence prevention legislation.

[[Page H345]]

  Last year, we did take a key step in the right direction by passing 
the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. But make no mistake, Madam 
Speaker. That was the beginning, and we cannot allow it to end there.
  I am grateful that my colleague,   David Cicilline, plans to 
reintroduce an assault weapons ban. I, too, am choosing to act. I will 
soon reintroduce my bill to stop online ammunition sales.
  Madam Speaker, I stand here confident that my Democratic colleagues 
will stand behind this commonsense legislation.
  From Sandy Hook to Uvalde, from Monterey Park to Trenton, New Jersey, 
every mass shooting is a policy choice. Democrats are prepared to 
choose better, and I demand that my Republican colleagues do the same.

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