No More Empty Gestures

Floor Speech

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Mr. HUFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, the whole point of the Democratic sit-in to demand congressional action on gun violence was to say that empty gestures and moments of silence for 30 seconds, followed by the bang of a gavel and resumption of business as usual will not be tolerated anymore in the face of this national gun violence epidemic.

Yet this week, our Republican colleagues are bringing forward a bill, written and blessed by the NRA, that is yet another empty gesture--a glorified moment of silence--because it establishes a completely arbitrary and artificial 72-hour timeframe and unreasonable standards that must be met within that timeframe.

I can't get my dry cleaning back in 72 hours, yet the NRA and our Republican friends expect the Attorney General to come forward, serve process, have a defendant hire an attorney, show up at a hearing, and prove with probable cause as the standard that this individual is about to commit an act of terror? Give me a break.

No more empty gestures. No more moments of silence that are completely disingenuous, including this glorified moment of silence that Republicans are bringing forward this week.

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