Unending Epidemic of Mass Shootings

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCANLON. Mr. Speaker, last week, we celebrated our Nation's birthday, a day that conjures up images of flags and fireworks, family barbecues and patriotic parades.

But in my district, the dominant image on July 4 was a mint green child's bicycle. That little green bike lay untouched in the street in the Kingsessing neighborhood for days after it was abandoned by its innocent owner when a man wearing combat gear and a mask stalked his neighbors, shooting randomly, killing five and injuring four others. One of the victims was 13. Another was on his dinner break from work. Two-year old twins and their mother were injured when their family car came under fire.

My district was not the only one that was the scene of such horrors during the holiday week. There were mass shootings in Baltimore, Fort Worth, and Wichita.

From sea to shining sea, on a day when we should have been celebrating the greatness of our Nation and the blessings of liberty, we saw senseless, needless death and destruction.

With the memory of the Highland Park shooting last July Fourth reinforced by more recent shootings, people across the country decided to skip parades and public celebrations because they were afraid of being shot.

Today is the 175th day of 2023, and so far this year, there have been over 370 mass shootings.

The bloodshed is daily. American families are scared and traumatized.

Americans are tired of living in fear at the grocery store, church, school, community celebrations, and parades. It does not have to be like this.

There are commonsense laws that can stem the bloodshed of gun violence, and House Democrats are committed to passing them.

On June 13, House Democrats introduced three discharge petitions that would ban assault weapons like the one used by the Kingsessing shooter last week; require universal background checks, which have been proven to prevent shooters from obtaining weapons; and close the Charleston loophole.

Those bills should get a vote, and Members of this House should be willing to put on the record where they stand.

We have other bills that would ban ghost guns, which the shooter also carried, and implement red flag laws, which have been proven to save lives by preventing suicides and allowing law enforcement to remove weapons from troubled individuals--again, like the Kingsessing shooter--before they kill someone.

These are bills that we know have the power to save lives, and they are popular, too.

Republicans in Congress just need the courage, the guts, to act. Anyone without the guts to act allows this unending epidemic of mass shootings to continue.

Americans do not and should not have to live like this. We don't need more neighborhoods with devastated families, abandoned children's bicycles, and people afraid to leave their homes.

Mr. Speaker, I will continue fighting to protect your families and mine, and I urge every Member of this body to join me.

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