Expressing Sense of House Regarding Arizona Shooting
Floor Speech
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Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, it is with a heavy heart today that I join my colleagues in paying respects to the victims of the senseless tragedy that took place last weekend in Arizona. I extend my prayers to the families of those who lost their lives, to the wounded, and the recovering, and to our dear colleague, GABBY GIFFORDS.
GABBY is an energetic Member of Congress who works and enjoys and treats all of those she meets with decency and kindness. I was here with her just last week while we read the United States Constitution on the floor of this House. GABBY so eloquently read from that bedrock of our democracy the First Amendment. In a direct reflection of her passion for interacting with those she represents, GABBY read of the established right of the people to peaceably assemble.
All of those gathered in Tucson on Saturday were engaging in what should have been a peaceful activity that is absolutely fundamental to our form of government--spending time with the gen tle lady who so proudly advocates on their behalf here in the United States House of Representatives
Among the fallen were Phyllis Schneck, a great-grandmother; Dorothy Morris, a devoted wife; Gabe Zimmerman, a public servant; John Roll, an honorable judge; Christina Taylor Green, a 9-year-old girl who just wanted to learn more about government; and Dorwan Stoddard, a man who gave his life protecting and saving his wife. They are all in our thoughts and prayers.
Our Founding Fathers made no mistake when they included the right to peaceably assemble among the first tenets of democracy. The inexplicable violence of last Saturday is a stark, tragic reminder that we must never waver in our steadfast support of the First Amendment and the precious freedoms it affords us every day.
As our colleague, GABBY, and all of those directly affected by this tragedy continue to heal from Saturday's incomprehensible events, let us remember the victims and their loved ones in our thoughts and in our prayers and in our actions. As those of us here have known, and as people all throughout the Nation are witnessing, GABBY GIFFORDS is a fighter. Let's keep in our prayers the hope that she once again joins us back here on the floor of this, the people's House.
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