Congressional Black Caucus
Floor Speech
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Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor and a privilege for me to rise today and to co-anchor, along with my distinguished colleague from the great State of Ohio, Representative Joyce Beatty, this CBC Special Order hour, this hour of power.
Once again, we are privileged to take to the floor of the people's House to discuss an issue that should be relevant to every Member of this institution on behalf of the 320 million-plus Americans that we represent in this great country, and that is the gun violence epidemic.
America has 5 percent of the world's population, but 50 percent of the world's guns. It is estimated that there are more than 300 million guns in circulation throughout this country. So it seems to me reasonable that we would do everything possible to ensure that not a single one of those guns finds themselves in the hands of individuals who would do us harm. And that in many ways is what President Obama has done as it relates to his most recent executive action.
So today members of the Congressional Black Caucus will come to the House floor to discuss those executive actions, discuss the issue of gun violence, discuss the steps that we should be taking, here in this Chamber, in order to keep the people of America that we all collectively represent safe.
It is now my honor and my privilege to yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty), my classmate and my co-anchor for this CBC Special Order hour. I look forward to anchoring with her throughout the entire year. She has been a tremendous champion for working families, for the middle class, for small-business owners and, of course, for the young people who are ravaged in our communities all across this country by gun violence.
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Mr. JEFFRIES. Thank you, Representative Beatty, for laying out the case in such an eloquent and compelling fashion, and pointing out that, with respect to gun safety and gun violence prevention in America, it is long past time when we act with the fierce urgency of now.
Tens of thousands of Americans have died as a result of gun violence since the moment you and I first set foot in this institution, and not a single thing has been done by the House of Representatives to prevent those deaths. That is shameful, as you have pointed out, and we need a change of course.
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Mr. JEFFRIES. Thank you, Representative Scott, for laying out the steps that are being taken by the President in such a compelling way in explaining why they are items that we should all support as well as some of the steps that need to be taken legislatively by this Congress in order to deal with the fact that more than 10,000 Americans a year die as a result of gun violence-related homicides.
I yield to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee). She is an incredibly eloquent and passionate voice for the voiceless. We appreciate her service here in the Congress not just on behalf of the district that she represents in northern California, but certainly on behalf of the people of the United States of America. I yield now to Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
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Mr. JEFFRIES. Again, I thank the distinguished gentlewoman from California for her wonderful remarks, observations, and, of course, her support for the President's executive actions on gun safety, making it clear that the President was left with no choice but to act.
Tens of thousands of Americans die each and every year either as it relates to homicide or suicide through a firearm, and nothing was happening here in the United States Congress. The classic definition of legislative insanity is to do the same exact thing, which in this instance is nothing, and expect that things were going to change for the safety and the well-being of the American people. That is why we are here on the floor today expressing strong support for the President's executive actions and pushing this institution to do more and finish the job that the President of the United States of America started.
It is now my honor and privilege to yield to the distinguished gentlewoman from Houston (Ms. Jackson Lee), a forceful advocate and the lead Democrat on the relevant committee on the House Judiciary side of the equation as it relates to criminal justice, reform, and gun safety. She, of course, has been a tremendous champion for the people that she serves down in H-Town, as well as across the country.
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Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentlewoman for the tremendous work you continue to do on the Judiciary Committee. I look forward to partnering with you.
As you point out, the Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms. It should not protect the ability of others to utilize weapons, often of mass destruction, in doing harm to Americans without a license or any legal bases for doing so. All we want is rational gun safety and gun violence prevention. I look forward to continuing to work with you in that regard.
It is now my honor and privilege to yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Kelly), one of my classmates. She has been a tremendous and forceful advocate for gun violence prevention measures, not only as the chair of the CBC Health Braintrust, for which she has been tireless on so many different issues, but also in her capacity within the House Democratic Caucus, as well as a chair of the CBC Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, someone who stood up countless times for the children in Chicago and the many others who have been dealing with unacceptable levels of gun violence.
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Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentlewoman, my good friend from Illinois, for the very powerful presentation and for her steadfast leadership.
Madam Speaker, one of the reasons we believe that Members of Congress need to act is that State laws are so inconsistent from one jurisdiction to the other.
In New York, we experience gun violence in certain communities at unprecedented levels notwithstanding the fact that we have tremendously significant and robust gun violence prevention measures in place.
But the overwhelming majority of guns used to commit crimes in the Brooklyn communities, represented by me and Yvette Clarke, actually come from the neighboring States of Pennsylvania as well as up the I-95 corridor from States in the Deep South.
Chicago, as Robin Kelly has indicated, has been experiencing unprecedented levels of gun violence. Illinois actually has pretty robust gun safety-gun violence prevention laws on the books, but the overwhelming majority of guns used to commit crimes in Chicago come from the neighboring States of Indiana and Wisconsin, which have lax laws.
Out in south central Los Angeles, the situation has gotten better over the last decade or so. California has pretty strong gun safety-gun violence prevention laws. The overwhelming majority of guns used to commit crimes in south central Los Angeles and in east LA actually come from the neighboring State of Arizona. That is why we need Congress to act in order to deal with what is a national problem.
Madam Speaker, it is now my great honor and privilege to yield to my good friend and colleague, my sister from the neighboring congressional district of mine and who has been such a forceful advocate on behalf of the communities that she represents in Brooklyn, the distinguished gentlewoman from the Ninth Congressional District of New York, Congresswoman Yvette Clarke.
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Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank my good friend and colleague for a very powerful presentation and for pointing out the sensibility of supporting all of the President's efforts, but particularly as they relate to the ATF, which is the Federal agency charged with enforcing our Nation's gun laws.
Two hundred additional agents is the bare minimum that we can hire to make sure that the ATF has the manpower and resources necessary to prevent the illegal trafficking of guns into places like the Brownsville and East Flatbush neighborhoods that Congresswoman Yvette Clarke so passionately represents.
If you block funding for the ATF, what you essentially are doing is supporting the efforts of the merchants of death who rely on underenforcement by the ATF, because of an absence of resources, in order to flood communities like Chicago; south central Los Angeles; parts of Brooklyn; Newark, New Jersey; and many other neighborhoods with illegal weapons.
Madam Speaker, I yield to my good friend and colleague, Congressman Donald Payne. I thank him as well as R. Kelly. D. Payne and R. Kelly made a fantastic combination. We thank them for their distinguished service last year in leading the CBC Special Order hour.
I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey.
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Mr. JEFFRIES. I yield to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett), a dynamic new Member of the House.
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Mr. JEFFRIES. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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