[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 7042]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN VIOLENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Illinois (Ms. Kelly) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Madam Speaker, by now you've all heard of the 
terrible shooting that took place on Sunday during the Mother's Day 
parade in New Orleans. Like all Americans, I was saddened to once again 
see a joyous public event marred by gun violence.
  Yet, as the Mother's Day shooting unfolded in New Orleans, I was 
struck by another lesser known story about the toll of gun violence 
that was playing out more than 100 miles away in Chicago. It is the 
story of love and loss told by the mothers of those killed by gun 
violence who were facing Mother's Day without their children, perhaps 
for the first time.
  A group of these mothers gathered at a memorial outside a Chicago 
church to mourn and remember their children. As a mother who was 
blessed to spend the day with my children, their pain and anguish is 
unimaginable.
  For every mass shooting that grabs the headlines, there are dozens 
more that take place on America's streets every day that are leaving a 
lost generation in their wake. And yet, in the national debate about 
gun violence, these everyday killings, this slow-motion massacre is 
often overlooked. And so are the mothers who are left behind.
  Just as the mothers who wept for their children in Newtown, these 
Chicago mothers are also the faces of the aftermath of gun violence. 
Because whether your child is shot in the classroom or on a street 
corner or in a park, your hopes and dreams for them were the same, and 
so is the agony of your loss.
  It is for these mothers--Clara Allen, Tanya Butler, Angela Blakely, 
and others like them--that I raise my voice and will continue to raise 
my voice in memory of their children to implore my colleagues in 
Congress to pass reasonable and responsible gun legislation. We must 
act now to end the senseless scourge of killings in our streets due to 
gun violence.
  I know there are those who think that new gun laws are not the 
solution. I say they're looking at the wrong equation. Commonsense gun 
restrictions are part of a multipronged approach to stemming gun 
violence that should also include increased access to mental health 
services and better community and social supports. It will take a 
village to save these children, our children.
  Passing commonsense gun legislation is a key step in the process by 
helping to keep guns out of the wrong hands. We must take a stand for 
these children and their mothers and send the message that we hear 
them, we care about them, and that their lives matter.

                          ____________________