[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6371-6372]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN VIOLENCE

  (Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, it has been more 
than 20 weeks since the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook school; yet

[[Page 6372]]

Congress has still been unable to pass a comprehensive legislative 
piece to curb gun violence in this country. While an overwhelming 
majority of Americans support expanding background checks, Senate 
Republicans last month blocked an important measure that would have 
expanded background checks to many types of private firearm sales.
  I came here from the mental health field. Every day that the 
Republicans in Congress choose to block critical measures to reduce gun 
violence, we will prevent having a safe community, because with the 
background check, many innocent sick people will be stopped. We cannot 
afford to continue to lose lives and have families severely impacted by 
senseless violence at the hands of criminals with deadly firearms.
  Madam Speaker, we owe it to the American people to respond 
immediately to this violence.

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