Recognizing Gun Violence Awareness Month
Floor Speech
Mr. Speaker, I am honored to host tonight's Special Order 30 minutes with the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and Assistant Leader Neguse.
We are entering the final week of Gun Violence Awareness Month. On this 25th day of June, it is estimated that over 2,500 Americans have lost their lives due to gun violence in this month alone. Over 100 people are dying in this country every single day.
Back in my home State of Georgia, I have seen the compounding impact of gun violence in our communities. Earlier this month, there was a shooting at the Peachtree Center mall where a gunman shot and injured three people. Just hours later, a man who was interviewed by local news as a witness to the first shooting went on to commit an act of gun violence himself, hijacking a Gwinnett County bus and fatally shooting a passenger that very same day.
I don't know what anybody else thinks, but this epidemic is truly real. I know firsthand the pain of losing a loved one to senseless gun violence. It has been nearly 12 years now since I lost my son, Jordan, when he was just 17 years old.
On Black Friday in 2012, Jordan and his friends were simply going out shopping at the mall. They stopped at a convenience store gas station for all of 3\1/2\ minutes because my son, Jordan, said: Hey, guys, if we are going to pick up girls at the mall, you have to have fresh breath.
In those 3\1/2\ minutes, a man pulled up next to the boys in their car, and he started complaining about the loud music that they were playing. He racially profiled them, called them gang bangers. He called them thugs.
Then, he fired 10 shots into the car, killing my only son, and then he simply drove away. He acted as if nothing had ever happened.
He went back to his hotel with his girlfriend. They walked their puppy, Charlie. They ordered a pizza, and they made themselves a couple of stiff rum and Cokes. Then, they simply went to bed.
It was only the next morning that they saw on television that a young Black male had been killed by 10 bullets at a convenience store gas station. This man and his girlfriend just simply got in their car and drove 170 miles back to Satellite Beach, Florida.
During the trial of my son's killer, I made a promise that I would spend the rest of my life fighting to make sure that no one else ever had to experience the pain and trauma that not only my family has experienced but the ever-growing club of people in this country who are succumbing to it every single day, parents who are burying their children who have been taken from this Earth far too early.
I became an advocate for gun safety. I became a spokesperson for Everytown for Gun Safety in America. In a district that was once held by Newt Gingrich, I ran for Congress strictly on a platform of gun safety and to save as many lives in this country as I possibly could. Against all odds, I won.
In the 5 years since I have come to Congress, the House Democratic Caucus has truly become the gun safety caucus. That truly gives me hope because I never ever thought I would be here. I never ever thought I would be standing on this floor. I never ever thought I would be here in Congress, living out my son's legacy as we pass as many bills as we can to stop more families from feeling the same pain that I felt from losing a child to unnecessary and horrific gun violence in America.
It is a testament to leaders like our Gun Violence Prevention Task Force chairman, Mike Thompson, that we are able to celebrate these victories, these monumental accomplishments, and the remarkable change that has happened just within the last few years.
Today marks 2 years of major gun safety reform with the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, led by our gun sense House Democratic Caucus and President Biden, with parts of my red flag bill, with community intervention funding, and with mental health resources for all 50 States, solutions that the American people overwhelmingly have been crying out for and support.
We are building on that monumental progress every single day with the assault weapons ban and also the introduction of my bipartisan GOSAFE Act to keep weapons of war off of American streets and out of our schools.
With the introduction of new legislation and movement forward on discharge petitions to force votes on these very important bills, we, the gun sense Democratic Caucus, are working to protect the American people every single day. Even if the current majority doesn't want to stand up for the safety of their own constituents and their families, we are committed. We will do that because the American people deserve to live in their communities in this country safely and freely.
Tonight, we will hear from legislators. Many of these legislators are some of the most dedicated Members on this Hill who are making this kind of progress possible every single day. They do this work day in and day out, leaders who have elevated the profile of gun violence prevention in the Halls of this Congress and many who championed this issue long before they were ever even considered an elected official.
This work takes all of us. That is why I am so grateful for this evening's speakers who are here with us tonight who will focus on our energy and the work that we have done during Gun Violence Prevention Awareness Month and hope that we can continue to encourage people to rededicate ourselves to the work of saving lives.
I have never been more optimistic about the future of this movement, and that is because of the work that I am blessed and privileged to do with my colleagues in this Chamber. Together, truly, we are definitely making a difference.
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Mrs. McBATH. Mr. Speaker, I thank Assistant Democratic Leader Joe Neguse for his wonderful words.
At this time, I yield to Representative Haley Stevens of Michigan.
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Mrs. McBATH. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague from Michigan, Ms. Stevens, for her comments.
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Mrs. McBATH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina for her comments.
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Mrs. McBATH. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for their commitment to their communities and for the safety of this Nation. I yield back the balance of my time.
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