Gun Violence

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise today, as I have done too many times before and as my colleague Senator Murphy did just last week, to reiterate what people across my home State and the entire country have been calling for for years now, calling for us to take action here in the Senate to end the crisis of gun violence that we are seeing in our schools, in our neighborhoods, and across our country.

Last week, we mourned the deaths of four high school students following the tragic shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan. My heart goes out to those four students' families and friends, and my heart goes out to every student at Oxford High who is now carrying the trauma of that experience.

My heart breaks for every student in this country who grows up thinking something like this will eventually happen to them at their school, and my heart hurts for every parent who worries every time they send their kid off to school because--let's face it--school shootings are a very real threat in this country.

As a parent and a grandparent and a former preschool teacher, I know school is supposed to be a place where our children feel safe, where they can go to learn and grow and see friends, where they can be kids, but after weeks like last week, that feeling disappears, following school shootings like the one we saw in Michigan or threats to schools like we saw last week in my home State of Washington.

Just last week, my hometown high school, Bothell High School, was shut down over concerns about a threat of violence. Ferndale High School was in lockdown Wednesday because of a threat of a gun on campus. That same Wednesday, the day after the shooting in Michigan, threats were made targeting three schools in Mukilteo School District, forcing local law enforcement to mobilize resources and personnel--all of that in just 1 week.

While, luckily, none of those threats we saw in my home State escalated any further thanks in large part to the quick work of local officials, in the same week, Seattle saw six shootings in just over 24 hours. From January through October of this year, Seattle has already seen more than 500 shooting incidents. It is already the most shootings the city has seen in the last decade.

I am not the only one who thinks this cannot continue. I know because for years I have heard from students and teachers and parents from my State who want major Federal action to finally end the gun violence epidemic in this country. People want an end to these school shootings, an end to shootings at our churches and places of worship, an end to the shootings at our malls and stores, and an end to the gun violence that doesn't always make the news but happens on our streets and in our neighborhoods.

As Senator Murphy said last week, we are the only high-income nation in the world where this happens. But it happens because we let it happen because, despite how many times my Democratic colleagues and I have come to the floor with commonsense, popular legislation to help prevent gun violence, our Republican colleagues block us from even debating those bills, let alone voting on them. Think about that. They won't even allow a debate on this legislation that could save lives.

So I ask them: How many times are we going to go through this cycle? What will you tell parents in this country when they ask you what you did to stop the next school shooting? How many times will you refuse to even debate commonsense steps to keep our communities safe?

It is past time Republicans either get on board with taking action to stop these shootings or at least get out of the way. Like so many parents or grandparents, I want to stop worrying if our kids are safe in school. And like so many Americans, I am done with my Republican colleagues blocking commonsense gun laws at every turn.

At this point, you are either in favor of taking action to help put an end to these shootings or you are against them.

Washington can and should continue to build on its gun safety laws. The administration can and should continue to invest in community violence intervention programs. But here is the deal: We can't address the full scope of the gun violence epidemic in this country without taking major Federal action. Universal background checks, an assault weapons ban, and a patchwork of gun safety laws are simply not adequate. We need Federal laws in place in order to protect our families.

The fact that one party has listened to the voices of parents across the country and taken to the floor once again to call for an end to gun violence while the other listens to the gun lobby and stays silent in the face of repeated tragedy speaks volumes. Simply put, our kids and grandkids deserve to be safe from gun violence in their schools and on our streets.

I refuse to let Republican obstruction continue to get in the way of commonsense measures that will save lives. All options need to be on the table. It is time we restore the Senate to make sure this institution can actually serve the interests of the vast majority of the American public.

So I promise all parents, all the grandparents, everyone in Washington State that, despite the obstruction and silence from my Republican colleagues, I will not stay quiet, and I will keep pushing for change. And I hope the American people will do the same.

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