[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 88 (Wednesday, May 24, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H2557-H2558]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1115
                         ONE YEAR SINCE UVALDE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Crockett) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. CROCKETT. Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of the 19 children and 2 
teachers murdered in Uvalde, Texas, 1 year ago today.
  One excruciating year has passed for the families of those we lost at 
Robb Elementary that day. A year of empty childhood bedrooms and vacant 
desks where a child should be. One full year, and what do we have to 
show for it? What has this legislative body done to answer the pain of 
these parents with policy?
  I ask myself this: Have we passed any measures on this floor that 
will stop the next Uvalde? The answer to that is an obvious no, we have 
not, because in the year since the second worst school shooting in 
American history, there has been 39 more.
  My district is about 355 miles north of Uvalde, but the horror of 
that day haunts every Texan as if it happened right next door; maybe 
that is because it is happening next door, in a wave of gun violence 
that has touched every corner of Texas, in every public space we once 
saw as safe.
  Just this month, my home of north Texas has grieved the deaths of 
eight Texans in a hateful act of violence at a shopping mall. That was 
the ninth mass shooting in Texas in 14 years. Fourteen years that 
lawmakers in Texas and Washington have used to loosen gun regulations.
  Mr. Speaker, I will tell you something: As a Texan and as an 
American, I am tired. I am tired of being traumatized. Texas is tired 
of the terror. It is time to do our jobs and legislate instead of 
pontificate.
  The 21 Texans ripped from their families last year deserve more. The 
people of Uvalde who have grieved and cried and demanded change deserve 
more. I hope we don't come back here in a year with the same amount of 
nothing to show for these grieving families. I hope we can show up 
having passed universal background checks and a ban on the weapon of 
war that stole those children's lives, but if history--history that 
many Republicans don't believe we should have taught in schools--if 
history is any indication, then yet another year will pass, more lives 
will be lost, and politicians will put on their pastoral hats and issue 
prayers instead of practicing what they preach, which is to be tough on 
crime and to keep these weapons of war out of the hands of the many 
domestic terrorists that have, frankly, been radicalized by the 
rightwing extreme rhetoric.
  Regardless of what the Republicans do or don't do, regardless of 
their lack of courage, I will continue doing what I do best, which is 
standing for commonsense solutions that will save lives.
  To my colleagues, I challenge you. Let's not fail these parents and 
children again. The number one killer of children in this country is 
guns right now. It is time that my colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle practice what they preach and be pro-life.
  Mr. Speaker, let's save some lives.

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