[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12008]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  AURORA SHOOTING ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DIANA DeGETTE

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 22, 2013

  Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Speaker, it has now been a year since our Colorado 
community was shaken by an inexplicable and horrific act of violence 
that left 12 innocent men, women and children dead, and 70 injured. 365 
days where the families, friends and loved ones of those lost have been 
robbed of their laughter, their triumphs, their struggles, and the 
million little things that made those 12 people unique. I know I join 
with all my colleagues in the delegation in saying, on behalf of the 
citizens of Colorado, we continue to express our deepest thanks for the 
outpouring of support our community has received from across the 
nation, since the horrible events at that Aurora theater. All of us in 
the Denver area still remember where we were when we heard the news, 
and the immediate fearful and heartbreaking connections we made.
  Who did we know in the theater? Whose child or wife or husband or 
brother wasn't coming home because of the senseless acts of one 
disturbed and heavily armed young man? My 18-year-old daughter had a 
friend in the theater just next door; and a friend of our family lost 
her nephew in the tragedy. Three of the deceased gunned down--including 
little six-year-old Veronica Moser--lived in my district and were part 
of the community I have the privilege of representing.
  Today we remember the victims of the Aurora theater massacre--the 
lives they would have and could have led, had they not been gunned down 
while innocently watching a movie on a Thursday night. We pay tribute 
to their lives and remind their families and loved ones that they are 
still in our hearts, our thoughts and prayers; and they will not be 
forgotten.
  But we also owe it to them to stand up and make sure they did not die 
in vain. Since I've been in Congress, we've had 26 moments of silence 
on the Floor of the House for victims of gun violence. Let me say that 
again--26 moments of silence, including one on July 24, 2012 for the 
Aurora victims, and of course, the moment last December for all the 
little children killed in Newtown.
  Surely we can come together in the name of the victims of Aurora; and 
Newtown; and Columbine; and Virginia Tech; and Fort Hood
. . . and all the others . . . and say once and for all, enough is 
enough.

                          ____________________