Recognizing Gun Violence Awareness Month

Floor Speech

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Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representatives Mike Thompson and Lucy McBath and Assistant Leader Joe Neguse, along with the rest of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force for organizing this important Special Order.

I especially thank Representative McBath, not only for her leadership, but for sharing her extremely personal and heartbreaking story. It is inspiring to see Representative McBath turn her grief into action to help save lives in this country. I am honored to stand by her side.

Mr. Speaker, gun violence is an epidemic in our country, one that requires a national response.

In May 2022, a racist, domestic terrorist opened fire in the Tops Supermarket on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo, in the heart of our community, stealing the lives of 10 innocent souls and severely wounding 3 others.

Just last Friday, a beautiful 3-year-old boy, Ramone L. Carter, was riding his tricycle when he was struck and killed by a bullet. His older sister, Jamia Griffin, age 7, was also grazed and hospitalized. Our community has rallied around Ramone and Jamia's family, but we know that no amount of support can undo the pain and unspeakable anguish that they feel.

That same day, in Fordyce, Alabama, a gunman opened fire with a shotgun at another grocery store, claiming the lives of four people and wounding nine, including two law enforcement officers.

Grocery store patrons and employees being slaughtered. Children and toddlers being murdered. Police being shot. It cannot continue.

This week, the U.S. Surgeon General declared gun violence a public health crisis in America. It is the leading cause of death among children and adolescents.

The common thread here is clear: guns and the ease with which they can be attained.

We can stop this. We can choose another path.

In New York, following the Sandy Hook and Tops Supermarket shootings, we acted. We put in place strong red flag laws and banned high-capacity magazines and assault rifles. We made it possible to sue gun manufacturers for the damage caused by the weapons they produce that flood our streets. We created new grant programs for law enforcement to implement problem-oriented policing, using tactics like hot spots policing, street outreach, and crime prevention through environmental design, all adding up to a more targeted and effective approach to preventing gun violence.

To address mental health's role in gun violence, we made a record $1 billion investment in mental health services.

These actions work.

As of this month, police departments participating in the State's Gun Involved Violence Elimination initiative saw a 28 percent decrease in shooting incidents resulting in injuries in the first 5 months of the year, but those laws won't save lives across our country. They won't stop guns from coming into New York.

We need Congress to act. At a time when we have the Supreme Court nitpicking whether a gun with a bump stock is a machine gun, like the one used in Las Vegas to shoot 90 rounds in 10 seconds, we need Congress to act.

When you can't send your kid to school, your loved one to the grocery store, or simply sit outside without fear of gun violence, we need Congress to act.

That means universal background checks, reinstating the assault weapons ban, banning bump stocks, military-grade body armor, and high- capacity magazines.

Repealing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which gives near-blanket civil suit immunity to gun manufacturers. And, yes, robustly funding mental health resources.

Nobody is coming after the Second Amendment. We are simply trying to save our kids' lives.

As a parent and as a community member who has been to far too many funerals due to gun violence, I implore my colleagues to work with us to pass these policies and make this country safer.

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