[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 205 (Wednesday, December 13, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H6869]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THIS SHOULD NOT BE NORMAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Nevada (Ms. Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. LEE of Nevada. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as southern Nevada is 
reeling in the wake of a horrifying mass shooting at the University of 
Nevada, Las Vegas.
  We remember Jerry Chang, Patricia Navarro-Velez, and Naoko Takemaru. 
All three of these faculty members were killed last week at work in the 
middle of the day while teaching our next generation of leaders.
  Once again, 6 years after Las Vegas witnessed the Nation's deadliest 
mass shooting, our community is coming together to mourn another 
entirely preventable loss of life this week when four more people were 
shot and killed in the northwest valley.
  As we pick up the pieces of these tragedies, our community is once 
again asking why. Why do we continue to accept these atrocities as 
normal? Why do we tolerate this violence when we have legislation 
before us that could save lives and stop the next tragedy before it is 
too late?
  Mr. Speaker, I have a son in college. He is a freshman. I worry every 
day about the possibility that a tragedy like this would strike his 
campus. For many parents in my community, that worry became a reality 
last week. They saw texts and tweets with the breaking news that every 
parent in this country has come to fear: an active shooter at their 
child's school.
  Students were instructed to run, hide, and fight. That is not normal. 
For our kids, this reality is even more traumatic--the sound of 
gunshots, barricading classroom doors, everyone hiding under their 
desks, silence, not knowing whether the next person to walk through 
that door is someone to save them or a murderous assailant. That is not 
normal.
  Let's not forget the resulting emotional trauma that will plague 
everyone involved for years to come.
  We are all incredibly grateful for the quick action of the first 
responders, the University Police Services, and the Las Vegas 
Metropolitan Police Department, who all bravely prevented that day from 
becoming even deadlier.
  Like so many mothers in this country, I am angry, and I am exhausted. 
This has become a reality for far too many Americans for far too long.
  Last week's shooting at UNLV was the 80th shooting at a school this 
year, a year that has broken the record for mass shootings and claimed 
the lives of over 40,000 children, parents, and neighbors. That is not 
normal.
  On that same day that we lost three of our own in southern Nevada, 
Senate Republicans were busy blocking legislation that could prevent 
another tragedy. Students, faculty, and university staff were hiding 
for their lives, cowering in fear, while Washington politicians were 
cowering behind the gun lobby that refuses to support policies demanded 
by an overwhelming majority of Americans.
  That should not be normal.
  Nevadans are tired of it, and so am I. We cannot and should not 
continue to accept this violence. Weapons of war on our streets are not 
normal. Barricading classroom doors is not normal. Parents being afraid 
to send their children to school, from kindergarten to college, is not 
normal.
  I don't want to hold another vigil. I don't want to hold another 
moment of silence. What I want to do is I want this institution, which 
Nevadans sent me to help fix, to stop accepting this violence and to 
end this sick cycle of inaction.
  Mr. Speaker, I am not naive enough to think that we can't prevent 
every shooting, but, God, please, let us at least get caught trying.
  Mr. Speaker, I am begging my colleagues and anyone who is listening 
to consider why we have accepted this for so long. Please, let's honor 
these victims with action.

                          ____________________