[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 109 (Friday, June 28, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H4414-H4415]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          OUR GUN VIOLENCE EPIDEMIC IS A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS

  (Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to applaud 
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy for officially calling our gun violence 
epidemic what it is, a public health crisis.
  The numbers paint the picture: 120 Americans are killed and more than 
200 are wounded by guns every day. The leading cause of death among 
children and teens in America is gun violence, with 4,600 precious 
children killed in 2022 alone, and an average of two mass shootings 
each day for the past 3 years.
  These numbers should horrify us because they are not numbers; they 
are people whose lives have been stolen, and families with unimaginable 
pain.
  Dr. Murthy's declaration treats our gun violence crisis with the 
urgency it demands. It opens doors for us to build upon the small 
progress we are making.
  Two years ago this week, we passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities 
Act,

[[Page H4415]]

the first gun violence safety law in 30 years. We did so together in 
the shadow of a horrific set of mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde.
  This will not be our last step. We must ban automatic rifles, 
strengthen universal background checks, and require safe storage. This 
is a public health crisis.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask us to face it. Doing so will save lives.

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