National School Walkout

Floor Speech

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Mr. PANETTA. Mr. Speaker, today, high school students got up from their desks and walked out of their classes to take a stand against gun violence and for school safety. From the east coast of Florida to the central coast of California, students left their classrooms for 17 minutes to remember the 17 lives lost at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and to demand that Congress take action on gun violence.

Now, today, Mr. Speaker, I commend you. We acted together to pass the STOP School Violence Act for school safety and security, but with all due respect, Mr. Speaker, that is not enough, and it is time we come together to pass commonsense reforms that have broad support across our Nation, from banning bump stocks to repealing the Dickey amendment, to fixing our system of background checks.

We all appreciate the emotion and passion by the high school students all across our country, but we realize, as they do, that thoughts and prayers only go so far. So now it is up to Congress to govern not just by crisis, but actually by leadership to make our schools, our communities, and our country safer.

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