Gun Violence

Floor Speech

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Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, we have been out of session for a week, and much has happened in America. Of course, the most dreadful thing is Parkland, Florida, and the Douglas High School. I shed quite a few tears thinking about those students and looking at the teachers who lost their lives.

The system failed. The FBI failed to follow up. Apparently, the sheriff's department failed to follow up. Mr. Speaker, our President failed because he failed to see the problem that we have in this country is not giving teachers guns, but giving teachers more respect and giving them more counselors and giving them more aid to be able to teach. He failed to see that the problem is not just in schools, where it is so important and there have been shootings and killings, but there are killings in Texas churches and in Las Vegas concerts, and by people over 21 years of age.

Banning bump stocks, which was the response to Las Vegas, is right and good and needs to be done by law to be done legally. Banning assault weapons being purchased by under 21-year-olds is good, but we need to ban assault weapons for everybody, for the 58 victims in Las Vegas as well as the victims in that church in Texas--and high-capacity magazines. We need to let the CDC study. We need to act.

God save America and the Chamber.

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