[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 62 (Thursday, April 11, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H2308-H2310]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 9, 2023, the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. McGarvey) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. McGARVEY. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Kentucky?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. McGARVEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, I rise this week, with a 
heavy heart.
  It is exactly 1 year since tragedy struck my community in Louisville, 
Kentucky. It was just last year, a Monday morning, the day after 
Easter, the first day back from spring break.
  You know what kind of day this was. It was a Kentucky spring day. The 
air was crisp. The sun was bright. It was perfect. The type of spring 
morning that had families heading back into school and had us heading 
back into work with a sense of rebirth and renewal.
  Unfortunately, it didn't last. Spring's ritual beauty was shattered 
by the unfamiliar booms from an AR-15, the acrid smells of smoke, the 
sounds of sirens, of screams.
  It was a Monday morning, April 10, 2023, that a lone gunman took an 
assault rifle into the Old National Bank on Main Street in Louisville, 
Kentucky, and opened fire on his colleagues. He took the lives of five 
innocent Louisvillians: Josh Barrick, Deana Eckert, Jim Tutt, Juliana 
Farmer, and my friend, Tommy Elliott.
  Eight other people were injured, including officer Nick Wilt. He was 
in just his fourth shift as a police officer when he ran headfirst into 
gunfire. His heroism saved lives, but he took an AR-15 round to the 
head. Miraculously, he survived, and he continues to recover and get 
stronger every day.
  That wasn't it. Just hours later and just a few blocks away, Chea'von 
Moore was killed at the Jefferson Community & Technical College. 
Another young woman was struck by bullets in the crossfire between 
classes. Thankfully, she survived.
  That was a Monday morning. It got worse. There was another mass 
shooting in Louisville later that week. Combined with the tragedies of 
everyday gun violence, five more Louisvillians were killed by gunfire 
by week's end.

                              {time}  1815

  It was awful. It ripped into us as a community. The scars are still 
there for so many to see, especially now, especially this week. I think 
any decent person hearing this story recognizes that it is tragic. 
Anyone with an iota of compassion for the families, for the lives lost, 
for the senseless waste of human potential knows how sad this is.
  If I told you this story 20 years ago, the world would have stopped. 
It would have been all you heard about on the news, on the internet, 
and in newspapers. It would have been a national crisis that would have 
demanded urgent action and all of our attention.
  Today, it was off the news quickly.
  Why? I can answer that.
  We have grown accustomed to this. Unbelievably, this is our norm.
  Now, Louisville, Kentucky, on a perfect spring morning, the day after 
Easter, the first day back from spring break isn't unique in the 
horrors it experienced from a mass shooting that day. No, it just got 
added to a very long list of American cities experiencing this tragedy.
  Gone are the days of recognizing American cities for their 
contributions to our culture--Motown, the City of Brotherly Love, the 
Big Apple, the Gateway to the West, the City of Angels, the Big Easy.
  No. Now we define our cities by their tragedies, Aurora, Uvalde, Las 
Vegas, Highland Park, Newtown, Orlando, Buffalo, Nashville, El Paso, 
Monterey Park, and Louisville, Kentucky.
  It was one of those moments as a lifelong Louisvillian you will 
always remember. I know where I was when I got the call. I was still 
with my family. In these jobs there are times you try to shield your 
children from some of the things you have to deal with here, but it was 
too shocking. I looked at my wife and I said: ``There has been a mass 
shooting.'' My elementary school daughter heard me. Her face sank. She 
was ashen. She just looked at us, and she said: ``Which school?''
  Of course that was her first reaction. In elementary schools they now 
do active-shooter drills instead of tornado drills. Gun violence is the 
number one killer of kids in America. We can't be shocked by that 
reaction.
  Even though it broke my heart--and maybe it should--we can't let it 
break our brains.
  I actually think we agree that 20 years ago these tragedies would 
have hit much harder, that they would have been an anomaly instead of 
the norm.
  What has changed? Why is it different?
  Well, I can point to one thing: The assault weapon ban has expired. 
Since then, the gun culture has exploded, and I don't mean hunting and 
responsible gun ownership. I mean the toxic culture promoted by gun 
manufacturers and the NRA. The idea that weapons of war are toys and 
status symbols. That the right to arm yourself with the capacity to 
kill en masse trumps our right to live.
  America's epidemic of gun violence that takes more than 40,000 lives 
per year and more children than any other cause almost always has a 
slew of common denominators: a firearm--often a semiautomatic--
purchased under a legal framework that only exists in America.
  Nowhere else in the world has seen this epidemic of death and done 
absolutely nothing about it.
  Many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle insist that this 
is a coincidence, that the very instrument of death for hundreds of 
thousands of our fellow Americans makes us safer, and that the more we 
have, the safer we will be, that somehow if every American had a gun, 
rates of gun violence would decrease.
  It would be comically absurd if it weren't so dangerous and so 
heartbreaking. It should break our hearts, each time, each loss of 
life, as if it were happening 20, 25 years ago; the gut-wrenching 
disbelief we felt over Columbine. We can't let it break our brains. It 
isn't that complicated.
  This is not the world we are forced to live in. This is the world we 
have chosen to live in. We in this body can do something about it.
  No, nobody is talking about coming to your house and taking your 
guns. Nobody wants to stop hunting trips. We are talking about the most 
basic, commonsense measures: Like safe storage,

[[Page H2309]]

waiting periods, universal background checks, stopping the free flow of 
assault weapons and armor-piercing ammo.
  Will these measures end gun violence in America? No, sadly they will 
not.
  Will they save American lives? Absolutely. Immediately.
  We can debate how many lives, but isn't even one worth saving?
  This is not some fringe fantasy either. These are literally some of 
the most popular bipartisan proposals in America. They are approved by 
70, 80, 90 percent of the American public.
  Today, the Biden administration announced a new rule expanding 
background checks for gun sales. This closes the gun show loophole, 
ensures that guns aren't sold or traded for profit without a background 
check.
  Good. However, there is more to do.
  Our constituents are crying out to us. We are all tired of seeing 
children killed in their schools and worrying that ours could be next.
  Commonsense gun reforms, not only are they overwhelmingly popular 
everywhere, they are necessary. While they are overwhelmingly popular 
everywhere, they are not overwhelmingly popular where they need to be. 
Here. In this building.
  Last year, after the shooting in Louisville, I approached many of my 
colleagues across the aisle. I did it one-on-one, not in front of the 
cameras, not for social media, but to really ask and say, I think we 
agree. We want our communities to be safer. Where can we meet on this? 
What can we do to protect our kids and our communities and save lives?
  I had really great conversations, talked about things that we have in 
common, things what we can do. However, routinely I was told that at 
the end of the day you know that is not something we can get through 
here.

  Why not? We are ready. We are waiting. I am tired of waiting. The 
American people are tired of waiting. We can start saving lives today, 
and we know it.
  I know that my friends on the other side of the aisle are good 
people, and I mean that. I don't know in this instance, though, what we 
are afraid of by simply putting these things to a vote.
  Gun violence right now is a choice, and it is time to make a new one. 
We can start saving lives today, and we should.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Tlaib), my 
colleague.
  Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his courage and 
trying to save lives, especially the lives of our children and trying 
again to address the crisis that we have in our country.
  It is always an honor to be able to serve the families of the 12th 
Congressional District in Michigan.
  Before I was a Congresswoman, my two sons made me a mother. I am 
speaking to you all as a mother more than anything.
  It is important to understand--this is a true fact--that gun violence 
is the leading cause of death for children and teens in our country. As 
of today, there have already been 106 mass shootings--that is more mass 
shootings than the days in the year so far.
  You know what is more horrific? It is more horrific that the gun 
violence in our communities that is happening every single day doesn't 
even make the news anymore.
  Congress has become so numb--this institution--truly numb to the gun 
violence crisis in our country that they are not even paying attention 
any longer.
  We cannot continue like this, Mr. Speaker. I refuse to accept that 
the death of kids is the status quo.
  We have not voted on a single gun violence prevention bill under this 
Republican majority.
  Guns now have more rights in our country than women do. It is sick.
  It is disgusting that campaign donations from the NRA and gun 
manufacturers have bought inaction and bought the silence of many of my 
colleagues and blocked many, many important, major reforms that we need 
to keep our communities safe across our Nation.
  Every one of our colleagues that refuses to vote for commonsense gun 
violence prevention I truly believe has blood on their hands--
responsibility.
  It is clear. They value guns more than the lives of our children. I 
truly believe our children deserve so much more than, again, inaction 
and our continued silence.
  I thank my colleague for hosting this Special Order. I have seen him 
on this floor being a father, being a Congressman, and we know what is 
at stake. Again, no parent ever should worry about their child when 
they leave home, that they would be a victim of gun violence.
  Mr. McGARVEY. Mr. Speaker, as a parent, this is heartbreaking. I had 
a parent tell me after the Uvalde shooting they now look at their 
child's shoes every day before they go to school just in case they have 
to identify them.
  I always said every policymaker in America should have been required 
to drop their kids off at school the day after Uvalde like I did.
  This is something we can do something about.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. 
DeSaulnier).

                              {time}  1830

  Mr. DeSAULNIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me 
time and for hosting this discussion tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, when we talk about gun violence and all its horror, the 
images that often come to mind are mass shootings, assaults, and 
murders. These tragedies are an important part of the conversation, 
and, unfortunately, too much discussion in American everyday life, but 
do not represent how most Americans will encounter gun violence.
  Every day in America, up to two-thirds of the gun deaths come about 
because of gun suicides, which account, again, for a disproportionate 
amount of gun deaths in the United States every day. This wasn't about 
self-defense, this was about Americans taking their own lives.
  Mr. Speaker, 35 years ago, on April 20, I lost my own father to gun 
suicide. I was the last of my four siblings to talk to him, and he gave 
no indication, from 3,000 miles away from where I lived at the time, 
that he was considering suicide.
  Mr. Speaker, 35 years later, we have not done enough to address this 
epidemic of suicide. For far too many people, they continue to lose 
loved ones the same way I did.
  What is most troubling, gun deaths amongst children and teens rose 50 
percent in just 2 years, between 2019 and 2021, and firearm suicides 
amongst those ages 10 to 24 is at its highest rate in more than 20 
years.
  Mr. Speaker, 10- to 24-year-olds in the United States are 
experiencing an uber epidemic of gun suicides. These statistics are 
sobering, and we need to take action now.
  Fortunately, research has shown that there are solutions that we can 
do to help stop this. Gun suicide rates in States with the strongest 
gun safety laws, like California, have actually decreased over the past 
two decades. Meanwhile, in States with the weakest gun safety laws, gun 
suicide rates have increased by almost 40 percent. They have gone down 
in States with constitutionally, legal, evidence-based research gun 
violence protection laws, but they have gone up by 40 percent in those 
States with the weakest.
  If all U.S. States had experienced the same trend in their gun 
suicide rate as the eight States with the strongest gun safety laws, 
approximately 72,000 fewer people would have died from gun suicides.
  The gun lobbyists often counter this evidence in the debate to say: 
Oh, well these people would just have tried something else. Not 
surprisingly, they are lying. They are lying about people taking their 
own lives with their product.
  Research has repeatedly shown that States that have experienced a 
decline in gun suicides, have not seen a corresponding increase in 
suicides using other methods. The other methods most commonly used for 
suicide are actually vastly slower, research tells us, than by the 
availability of guns and the use of guns.
  Mr. Speaker, to honor those who have lost their lives by taking their 
lives and to protect the most vulnerable, we need to follow the 
evidence and enact national commonsense, proven reforms because where 
you live should not determine the probability of losing a loved one to 
gun suicide.
  Mr. McGARVEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative DeSaulnier for

[[Page H2310]]

his wonderful words and his courage in telling his personal story.
  We have talked about mass shootings today, and I think it is also 
important that we put some focus on everyday gun violence. We have 
talked about guns. Let's also talk about crime. Let's talk about the 
root causes of crime as well, and make sure that we are doing 
everything we can--from public safety to guns, to things like jobs, 
affordable housing, healthcare, hunger, education.
  We also do need to talk about mental health and make sure that people 
in this country have the mental health support they need and they 
deserve. There is no argument that the number one cause of gun deaths 
in this country is death by suicide, but when you talk about suicide 
and death by a firearm, there are ways to help prevent it.
  I met this week with the UofL trauma team, who did an amazing job on 
April 10, 2023, keeping people alive and navigating an incredibly 
difficult situation. And because suicide is the number one cause of gun 
deaths in this country, I talked with them about it.
  I spoke with Dr. Jason Smith, who is a trauma surgeon at the 
University of Louisville, and he shared a person is most at risk of 
taking their own life when they reach their lowest point, and that 
lowest point typically only lasts for about 10 minutes. If you can get 
someone through that lowest point, they have an amazingly increased 
chance of living a full life.
  We know that there are laws that work to protect us. In my State of 
Kentucky, we watch it across the river in Indiana where they have a 
State red flag law.
  We can make this a national priority, through law and through 
funding, to help people get what they need, to help people who are in 
crisis and temporarily remove them from a firearm while retaining their 
rights.
  Representative DeSaulnier referenced that suicide is growing among 
young people, and, unfortunately, it is. But that is not the only group 
affected. In fact, a statistic that worries me, because Louisville is 
located just north of Fort Knox, we have about 50,000 veterans who live 
in our community. The single-most at-risk group for death by suicide 
with a firearm are White men over the age of 50 who own a firearm and 
are a veteran.
  Mr. Speaker, I sit on the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, where even 
today in a committee hearing with the Secretary, death by suicide was 
brought up for veterans. The people who were brave enough to put on a 
uniform and sacrifice everything for us, we should be brave enough to 
pass policies in this body that will help them.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse), my 
distinguished colleague.
  Mr. NEGUSE. Mr. Speaker, first let me thank the distinguished 
gentleman, my good friend, from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, whose 
leadership with respect to addressing the scourge of gun violence that 
has, unfortunately, taken hold in so many parts of our country, has 
been unparalleled since he first stepped into this august Chamber last 
year.

  We are grateful for his service, we are grateful for his leadership, 
and we are grateful for him initiating this important conversation 
tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, I must say that there are many constituents of mine who 
are frustrated, who are outraged, who are anguished at the inaction of 
this body to address an issue as fundamental as this one.
  What could be more important, Mr. Speaker, than the safety of our 
families, of our friends, of our neighbors, of our colleagues, of our 
children, of our fellow citizens.
  This Congress has a job to do, and that job must include addressing 
gun violence and enacting commonsense reforms that we know will save 
lives.
  I have the distinct privilege, Mr. Speaker, of representing the great 
State of Colorado, and we have been no stranger to the anguish of gun 
violence.
  Next week will mark the 25th anniversary of the tragic and 
devastating massacre at Columbine High School. Mr. Speaker, 13 
Coloradans murdered in cold blood, 12 students, and 1 teacher, 25 years 
ago next week.
  Mr. Speaker, 3 years ago, my community was devastated by yet another 
mass shooting at our local grocery store. Mr. Speaker, 10 community 
members gunned down, including 1 police officer, who bravely died in 
the line of duty, saving lives, making the ultimate sacrifice.
  Mr. Speaker, we have lost far too many. There are far too many 
mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, children, Americans, dying 
from gun violence. We have the power to stop it if we follow the 
articulate admonition of my friend and colleague, Mr. McGarvey, by 
passing commonsense solutions here in this Chamber.
  For those who doubt our ability to do so, Mr. Speaker, I will point 
you to fairly recent history.
  There were many, many who doubted the ability of the United States 
Congress and the President to enact laws, commonsense laws that 
ultimately would and could save lives. They were wrong.
  Because of President Biden's leadership, we passed a bill in the last 
Congress, the 117th Congress, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. 
That law is saving lives today.
  Earlier today, the White House, next to the leadership of President 
Biden, Vice President Harris, the leadership of our attorney general, 
Attorney General Garland, announced yet another reform, a new rule 
pursuant to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that will finally 
close the gun show loophole, an important step forward, Mr. Speaker, 
and one that I applaud. I hope, I sincerely hope that it can be a 
building block for us to take on.
  Now, I have to confess, I looked at the notice in the Committee on 
Rules, the committee on which I serve, with great dismay, just a few 
hours ago. What did that notice portend for next week? What have House 
Republicans decided we will spend our time on next week--not gun 
violence prevention, the Refrigerator Freedom Act.
  I kid you not, that is literally on the agenda next week: The 
Refrigerator Freedom Act.
  How about a bill to address gun violence? Is that too much to ask? My 
constituents don't think so, and I don't think the people of Kentucky 
think so either.
  I thank the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. McGarvey) again for his 
leadership, for initiating this important conversation. It is the 
beginning and not the end.
  Mr. McGARVEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Neguse for his 
wonderful words. I can't believe it has been 25 years since Columbine, 
another tragedy which I can remember exactly where I was when I found 
out that news. We went to our TV screens to watch in horror as students 
fled from the building, as parents wondered if their kids were alive. 
We grieve with Colorado, not just for Columbine, but for Boulder and 
for Aurora, for the tragedy you all have endured.
  Hearing Representative Neguse talk about the tragedies in his 
community reminded me that when the mass shooting happened in 
Louisville on April 10 last year, I had several Members of Congress 
reach out to me immediately. They were not only offering their 
condolences and their sympathies and asking what they could do to 
help--many of them had experienced the same tragedy in their 
communities--they offered advice on how to deal with it and how to help 
your community get through it while you yourself grieve. In essence, 
there is a playbook on what to do after a mass shooting.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like this body to act and have a playbook on how 
to stop the shootings from happening in the first place, because we 
know how to do it.
  We know the damage that assault weapons cause. We know the need for 
safe storage and universal background checks, and I am tired of hearing 
there is nothing we can do when we are doing nothing.
  We can solve this uniquely American problem, and we can solve it 
together, keeping our kids and our communities safer. It just takes the 
political will from this body to do it.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________