School Shooting Bill

Floor Speech

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Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Speaker, it has been 1 month since the tragic shooting in Parkland, and today students in Hawaii and all across the country are joining hands and raising their voices to honor the 17 lives lost on that day and the 7,000 children whose lives have been lost since the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook. They are walking out today to demand action that will help to prevent these horrific tragedies and improve the safety and security of our schools.

Later today, we are going to be voting on a bill that I have cosponsored, the STOP School Violence Act. This bill or any other single bill is not going to solve everything, but it will help prevent school violence by implementing measures developed after Sandy Hook that support training for teachers, students, school personnel, and local law enforcement to better identify early warning signs of violence and increase coordination between schools and local law enforcement.

In addition, we also need to take action on things like closing the gun show and online loopholes and requiring universal background checks for anyone seeking to purchase a gun. These are provisions that have overwhelming bipartisan support both here in Congress and across the country.

The time for action is long overdue. Let's bring these bills to the floor for a vote.

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