[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 66 (Thursday, April 20, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S1289]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               24TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE COLUMBINE MASSACRE

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, 24 years ago today, tragedy struck 
Littleton, CO. It was a day that began like any other but--in a matter 
of hours--would scar our Nation forever.
  Today, the word ``Columbine'' is synonymous with an act of terror 
that every parent fears: school shootings. If you had told me 24 years 
ago that the scenes we witnessed that morning--students and teachers 
being shot down, traumatized children being escorted out of classrooms 
by armed officers, if you told me this would become a common--almost 
weekly--occurrence in America, I wouldn't have believed you.
  But here we are. In the years since Columbine, hundreds of American 
students have died--or been injured--in school shootings, and thousands 
more have been traumatized. Gunfire has become the No. 1 cause of death 
for our Nation's children. And one in five Americans now say they have 
lost a loved one to gun violence. Some politicians have resigned 
themselves to the idea that this is just part of American life we must 
accept. Shame on them. This is a uniquely American crisis--and 
lawmakers have the power to resolve it.
  Yet Republicans in Congress actually want to take steps backwards. We 
are seeing that in the House right now, where the MAGA majority is 
trying to wipe off the books a gun law restricting braces that turn 
pistols into short-barreled rifles. This is the kind of weapon that was 
carried by the mass shooters in Dayton, OH; Boulder, CO; and just a few 
weeks ago at a school shooting in Nashville, TN. Parents shouldn't have 
to worry that, when they send their kids to school, they may not return 
home. Children shouldn't be forced to live with the fear that their 
classroom could be the next target.
  People of all political stripes are calling on Congress to act. Let's 
start by keeping assault weapons and short-barreled rifles off of our 
streets and out of our classrooms.

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