[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17339]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN VIOLENCE

  (Mr. CICILLINE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, it has been 34 days since the murder of 
nine men and women at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. It has been 
140 days since the murder of nine parishioners at Mother Emanuel Church 
in Charleston, South Carolina. It has been 1,055 days since the murder 
of 20 children and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, 
Connecticut.
  In the time since then, Congress has done nothing to close loopholes 
in our background check system and make it easier to identify a 
dangerous individual before they are able to buy a gun.
  There are more mass shootings in the United States each year than in 
any other country, and six of the deadliest shootings in American 
history have taken place in just the past 8 years.
  It shouldn't be this way. It doesn't have to be this way. Congress 
has the responsibility to stand up to the powerful special interests 
and say, ``No more.'' There is no reason lawmakers in this body should 
continue to cower before the National Rifle Association. We are the 
people's Representatives, and it is time to get to work on commonsense 
reforms that will save the lives of thousands of Americans and put an 
end to the epidemic of gun violence in our country.

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