[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 24]
[House]
[Page 32507]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      CONDOLENCES TO OMAHA VICTIMS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Smith) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SMITH of Nebraska. Mr. Speaker, I rise also with a heavy heart to 
express my condolences to the families of the victims that were 
tragically gunned down yesterday in Omaha. It is amazing, as Mr. 
Fortenberry pointed out, how cruel the world can be, and I only hope 
that we will come together and look at the root causes of these sources 
of violence, as we look at the violence that affects basically a rural 
area of our country, the Heartland, as many would call it, that none of 
us can escape some of this violence.
  As we pull together, I know that perhaps we can learn from what 
happened yesterday. But, again, I want to especially express the 
condolences that I feel for these many victims who actually have roots 
across Nebraska.
  With that, I yield my time to Mr. King of Iowa.
  Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Nebraska 
for yielding. I stand here also with a heavy heart in joining with my 
colleagues from the west side of the Missouri River, and as we often 
stand together on policy and on issues that matter to the country and 
matter to our region, today we stand together in expressing our 
sympathies to the families of all of those involved in this tragic 
shooting.
  As we move towards the Christmas season and the anticipation that 
brought people together in the Von Maur store, it's tragic that that 
was what was interrupted in such a brutal way, by such an act of 
insanity. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the families of all 
involved; the families of the victims of those who were killed, the 
families of those who were wounded, those who were wounded, obviously, 
and also to the family of the shooter who committed that act of 
insanity, who must be going through an even more heightened sense of 
agony today and yesterday, and throughout, and perhaps the rest of 
their lives, an added measure of agony to those who have already 
suffered the incomprehensible loss of such a tragic incident.
  I lost a constituent and had one wounded, and it has reached into the 
lives of the families on the Iowa side of the river. It is also true 
for each of the three Members of the Nebraska delegation, having lost 
at least one person that they represented here in Congress. We know 
that all families are affected.
  And so we ask to stand here together and we will remember you all in 
our prayers throughout our holiday time, throughout this Christmas 
season. We will stand together for the rule of law, we will stand 
together for sanity. We are going to look to try to find a way to reach 
out, and perhaps, just perhaps there will be some key, some knowledge 
gained from this tragedy that we can better use to protect and maybe 
prevent future tragedies.

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