Gun Violence Protection

Floor Speech

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Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, in February 1994, Caliph Barrett III, Elliott Martin, and Brian McCullough lost their lives to senseless gun violence in Fort Worth, Texas, in the Lake Como community. The people back then said that that was the saddest day in Como history.

A crazed individual with a gun who should have never had one caused other acts of violence throughout the city during this time.

Now, almost 30 years later, people are saying that what happened on the evening of July 3, 2023, is perhaps the saddest day in Como history. Over the Fourth of July holiday in Fort Worth, two separate acts of gun violence, the one in Como that I just mentioned and one in Polytechnic Heights, two of the most loved-filled and caring communities in Fort Worth, had to deal with these tragedies.

In Como, Cynthia Santos, Paul Willis, and Gabriella Navarrete were the names of the three young people who were murdered when people got together at Como Fest the day before the big Fourth of July celebration to barbecue, celebrate independence, celebrate freedom, and just have a good time, but, instead, they lost their lives to senseless gun violence.

I join with the Como and Polytechnic communities in mourning those who were lost and injured over the Fourth of July weekend.

These shootings especially hurt because Como is the community that I grew up in. That is where my mom and all of her siblings went when the schools were segregated, Como High School, the Como Lions. That is the neighborhood that a lot of my family still lives in.

We need to get together, Mr. Speaker. We need to do something.

I don't know much about the two gunmen who were arrested the other day for what happened on July 3 in Como, but I bet you, Mr. Speaker, they are just as bad as the person who was responsible for so many of those murders during that 1994 era. I guarantee that people like that should never ever get their hands on any firearm.

It is our duty as Members of the United States House of Representatives, both Republicans and Democrats, to protect us from people who are deranged criminals, people who are dealing with mental illness issues that most of us should be blessed we don't have, and people who are extremely violent and terroristic in nature.

It should be easy to pass bills like background checks and raising the age limits for AR-15s to make sure that people like the ones I just described don't ever get their hands on a firearm in their lives. That should be easy.

It doesn't have anything to do with people who are law-abiding citizens. I am talking about people who are sick and people who have caused destruction and misery in communities, in families, and in people's lives.

We have to do better as Democrats and Republicans.

I have introduced a resolution condemning these tragedies, but we need action now. We can't wait any longer. I don't want 5, 10, 15, 20, or 30 years later for people to say that this is the saddest day in Como history again because we sat on our hands, didn't do anything, and pretended that people's Second Amendment rights were being abridged when all we are trying to do is stop really awful, terrible, and bad people like I just talked about from ever owning a firearm.

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