Senate Should Enact Commonsense Solutions to Gun Violence

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEGUSE. Mr. Speaker, I have the honor of representing the great State of Colorado. Unfortunately, Colorado is no stranger to gun violence.

I was 14 years old when my high school was put on lockdown. Soon after, my classmates and I learned that, just a couple of miles down the road, a terrible tragedy was unfolding at Columbine High School, a terrible tragedy in which 13 people were shot and killed.

One of those 13 victims was a 14-year-old boy named Daniel Mauser. This week, I brought Daniel's father, Tom Mauser, to the State of the Union to highlight the urgent need for action on the gun violence epidemic. He sat here in the gallery just a few days ago as the President delivered his State of the Union and heard that the President failed to mention any effort to engage in gun violence prevention and to deal with the public health crisis that we face.

For 20 years, Tom has bravely converted his pain and his anguish into action, pushing for gun violence prevention. Yet 20 years later, he and, frankly, the entire State of Colorado are still waiting on Congress to address the most basic and commonsense solutions to gun violence.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise for Tom. I rise for his son.

I rise for the so many victims that we have lost to gun violence across Colorado and across our country. I rise today for the more than 100,000 Americans who every year survive a gunshot wound and now face the lifelong physical and emotional toll surviving gun violence takes on an individual.

I rise today to give voice to the millions of Americans across this great country who are tired of the Senate's leadership being held hostage by the special interest gun lobby.

I rise today because all Americans have a right to make their communities safe from the onslaught of gun violence that this country witnesses day after day. They have a right to demand the dangerous loopholes like the Charleston loophole are closed. They have a right to demand an end to the unbelievable number of military-style firearms flowing through their streets.

And demanded they have, Mr. Speaker. Indeed, a majority of Americans support creating a red flag law, by way of example, allowing police or family members to request a judge to temporarily remove guns from individuals who may be dangerous. A majority of Americans think that it is absolutely ridiculous that we do not require universal background checks for gun purchases at gun shows or other private sales. And a majority of Americans think that it is beyond comprehensible that Members of Congress would stand in the way of working to ensure that individuals do not have access to weapons of mass murder.

Let us be clear, Mr. Speaker. Let us be clear. The gun violence epidemic that has gripped this country is neither a Democratic nor Republican issue, but, rather, one of national importance, the solutions to which must not face further delay.

We have grieved together; we have demanded change together; and we have been shocked by the paralysis that has gripped this institution when it comes to tackling our country's gun violence epidemic.

Mr. Speaker, I will close simply by saying the time has well since passed when we should have enacted these commonsense reforms. We should have done it 20 years ago. There is bipartisan legislation in the Senate right now that will address these pressing issues, and it is time for the Senate majority leader to bring that legislation to the Senate floor for a vote. Coloradans and Americans have waited long enough.

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