[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 3993]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          9TH GRADER SOPHIE BOUCHER OF NAUGATUCK, CONNECTICUT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROSA L. DeLAURO

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 19, 2013

  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share with you and all of 
my colleagues a letter I recently received from Sophie Boucher, a ninth 
grade student at Naugatuck High School in the Borough of Naugatuck, 
Connecticut. She writes:

       ``I think everyone in this state, country, continent, and 
     world can agree that the events that unfolded in Newtown were 
     tragic. Our hearts go out to the kids and teachers who lost 
     their lives in Sandy Hook and also to their parents. We can 
     do something to prevent this from happening again, though. I 
     feel that one of the first issues we should address to 
     restrain this from occurring again is gun control.''
       ``We have all heard the saying, ``Guns don't kill people. 
     People kill people.'' That may be true, but guns make it a 
     whole heck of a lot easier. On the same day that Sandy Hook 
     faced tragedy, 22 children in China were stabbed. Not one 
     child was killed. If that man who stabbed these children had 
     a gun, chances are the children would have been killed. We 
     cannot just let anyone get their hands on guns, especially 
     assault weapons. There should be stricter laws on who can 
     obtain guns and who cannot.''
       ``I feel that one of the ways to go about the stricter laws 
     is by looking at a person's medical history before they 
     obtain a gun. Furthermore, not only the medical history of 
     the person wanting to own the gun should be looked at, but 
     also the medical history of the people living in the house 
     with them. If a mother has a gun in the house, a child, 
     whether the child has mental health issues or not, could 
     easily get their hands on it. We saw this example hold true 
     with Adam Lanza. Though Adam Lanza's mental history was not 
     known, it would have been a smart idea to keep all weapons of 
     any kind away from him. By not having any kind of weapon 
     around a person with a mental health issue, we will be able 
     to decrease shootings of any kind. Therefore, the medical 
     history of the person obtaining the gun and the people living 
     with them should be looked at.''
       ``Sincerely, Sophie Boucher, 9th Grader''

  Like my colleagues, I always appreciate hearing from my constituents. 
I share this particular correspondence because it should serve us all 
as a reminder that there are many ways in which the Congress can act to 
address the issues surrounding gun violence--the point is we need to 
act.

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