Protecting Our Kids Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bill and would like to see a bill that is even stronger.

There is no question that children--and that is what they are--should not be buying AR-15s before they are 21. In fact, I don't think they should be buying them at all. But until they are 21, they shouldn't be buying them.

It has been proven scientifically that the male brain is not developed to a certain point to be trusted at that time with that type of weapon. Those are weapons of war. Those weapons tore apart those children, decapitated them, and made them unidentifiable. That was the purpose of those weapons, and that is what happened. There is no reason for that to occur.

The opinion in 2008 that gave the right to carry a gun was not unlimited. It said you can have reasonable restrictions. That is what Justice Scalia said. These are reasonable restrictions.

As far as my friend, Mr. Hudson, I have great respect for him. One of the teachers at Uvalde who was hit and lost all 11 children said: We trained. There is no training that can prepare you for this. There is nothing you can be prepared for.

If you get more school counselors, does that help people in the movie theaters and in Columbine? No. Movie theaters, churches, grocery stores all need to be protected. This country is wild with guns, and we need to restrict them.

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