[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 10132-10133]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
                              GUN VIOLENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Illinois (Ms. Kelly) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, in the 4 years that I have been 
privileged to represent the remarkable people and amazing communities 
of Illinois' Second Congressional District, I have come to this floor 
many times to urge action.
  I have called for a budget that invests in jobs, farmers, and rural 
communities. I have called for action to address the trillion-dollar 
student debt crisis. I have called for real solutions that make 
healthcare affordable for all American families. I have spoken on many 
issues facing this House, but nothing I have spoken on is more 
important than protecting American lives.
  I have begged for commonsense reforms that prevent children from 
being shot while playing at a playground. I have begged; I have 
pleaded; I have screamed; I have cried; and I have even ground the 
people's House to a halt with last year's historic sit-in.
  What answer was I given? Was I given answers to take home to grieving 
mothers and police widows? Was I able to tell them that their loved 
one's death wasn't in vain and that we were

[[Page 10133]]

going to do something to save the next life? No. I was met with 
silence, and worse, an active effort to silence my voice and the voice 
of millions of Americans.
  So I ask myself: Why? What is the issue? Why can't I, an elected 
Representative of the American people who draws my authority directly 
from the United States Constitution, get something done to save lives? 
Why can't we get a vote on commonsense, lifesaving legislation that is 
supported by 90 percent of Americans and more than 70 percent of NRA 
members?
  Mr. Speaker, tragically, the answer is simple. It is greed.
  Mr. Speaker, what is the cost of your inaction? It seems that $5,950 
you took from the NRA matters more to you than the 7,490 Americans we 
have already lost this year to gun violence.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people deserve to know that just 79 cents 
for an American life is the cost of your silence and inaction.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, it might be easy for you to ignore the connection 
between those dollars and the lives lost, but I cannot--and I will 
not--ignore it. I will not let you ignore or forget it either.
  I am going to stand here and remind you, remind the people of 
Wisconsin's First District, and remind all Americans that money matters 
more to you than these American lives. One dollar--one name. One 
dollar--one grieving family. One dollar--one lost American:
  One dollar--Xavier Joy, 23, was a success story. He was playing 
football at Morehouse, was an AmeriCorps volunteer, and wanted to 
change Chicago for the better;
  Two dollars--Blair Holt, 16, was killed shielding his friend on a CTA 
bus;
  Three dollars--Hadiya Pendleton, 15, killed just weeks after 
performing at President Obama's inauguration.
  While Chicago might make headlines, gun violence is killing people in 
every community, in every city, and in every town, including 
Wisconsin's First District.
  Four dollars--Paramjit Kaur, 41, killed while trying to pray;
  Five dollars--Satwant Singh Kaleka, 65, killed at the temple he 
founded;
  Six dollars--Prakash Singh, 39, a reader at his temple;
  Seven dollars--Sita Singh, 41, killed by a White nationalist for 
wearing a turban;
  Eight dollars--Ranjit Singh, 49, murdered at his church;
  Nine dollars--Suveg Singh, 84, killed while expressing his love for 
his God;
  10 dollars--Harry Canady, Jr., 20, killed sitting on a porch in 
Racine;
  11 dollars--Sean Bialas, 23, of Kenosha, shot and killed while 
physically unable to defend himself;
  12 dollars--David Bauspies, 36, of McHenry, accidentally shot and 
killed in East Troy;
  13 dollars--Jose Torres, 36, murdered on the 1600 block of Holmes 
Avenue in Racine;
  14 dollars--Nicholas Chaulkin, 17, of Racine, killed by a domestic 
abuser, likely while defending his mother;
  15 dollars--David Tilton, 37, of Janesville;
  16 dollars--James Norris, 37, was killed at his job as a restaurant 
delivery driver in Racine;
  17 dollars--Jeremy Trawitzki, 38, killed in Muskego;
  18 dollars--Thomas Kruse, 41, killed in Muskego;
  19 dollars--Joseph Hensel, 27, killed in Elkhorn;
  20 dollars--Andrew Jones, Jr., 27, also killed by his friend in 
Racine;
  21 dollars--Maurice Carter was shot and killed in a Racine County 
robbery;
  22 dollars--Carl Nichols, 26, shot and killed by a friend in Kenosha.

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