Orlando Massacre

Floor Speech

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Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, this is what our moments of silence have brought us:

A silent nightclub. The only sound is the frantic ringing of cell phones that would never be answered and silent bodies where there should be life, love, and pride. And, here, a silent Congress.

Mere words cannot express the depth of my rage and grief. Forty-nine lives lost in the middle of Pride Month when they should have been safe and celebrated. Forty-nine families devastated by the loss of their loved ones. Forty-nine phones ringing and ringing and ringing.

There were also frantic texts, like Eddie Justice's final message to his mother: ``Mommy, I love you. He's coming. I'm gonna die.''

If you can hear these words without your heart breaking, if you can think of those little children gunned down in Newtown without breathing, if you can think of empty pews in Charleston without mourning, then truly you have lost your souls.

Hateful people like to compare LBGT equality to the sin-filled Biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, but we here in Congress are the real Sodom and Gomorrah.

Are there not 218 Members here to stand against this bloody tide?

I ask you today: How many lives must be destroyed before Congress acts?

Nine lives? Charleston showed us nine is not enough.

Thirteen lives? Columbine showed us that 13 was not enough.

Certainly, 27 small children killed in their classrooms in Newtown? No, not enough.

The 32 lives lost at Virginia Tech, again, not enough lives. The more than 33,000 Americans killed each year by guns, not enough.

Now 49 people have been mowed down and murdered in Orlando, yet even this historic tragedy, the biggest mass murder since 9/11, hasn't been deemed big enough, horrific enough, or insidious enough to break the weak-kneed, spineless, silent Members of Congress.

Congress is happy to debate for hours about bathrooms, but bring up the gun violence killing of thousands? Absolutely not.

Radical Islam or homegrown American homophobia or a toxic stew of both may have inspired the Orlando shooter. No doubt we will learn about his disgusting motivations in the coming weeks.

But there are simple actions we can take right now, actions that would have reduced the deaths in Orlando as well as in Aurora, Newtown, San Bernardino, and at Umpqua Community College. All these killers use AR-15s. All of them used weapons of mass destruction.

First, let's make sure every gun purchase requires a background check rather than just 60 percent of gun purchases.

Why have we created a separate market for criminals, domestic abusers, and mentally ill?

Let's ban assault weapons that have time and time again caused mass bloodshed. The American people are too familiar with the AR-15, a weapon designed to hunt Americans in their most vulnerable places: the classroom, the movie theater, the nightclub.

Whether the would-be killers are Islamic extremists or American White supremacists or disgruntled coworkers, banning assault weapons would prevent mass bloodshed on the scale we saw last weekend in Orlando. Motive doesn't matter without the means.

Finally, we must lift the ban on gun violence research. Our best minds should have access to gun violence statistics and be encouraged to study ways to stem the tide of violence. The Second Amendment cannot be abridged by basic scientific studies.

Would these policies stop all gun violence? Of course not.

But I am repulsed by the moments of silence that just are for show. No other industrialized country has such blood-soaked streets. By remaining silent, we are complicit in these crimes.

To the Latino and LGBT communities that are dealing with this unimaginable tragedy, I mourn with you and stand with you against this tide of hatred.

To my colleagues, I plead with you, please, stop the idolatry of weapons of death.

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