Federal Extreme Risk Protection Will Prevent Gun Deaths
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mrs. McBATH. Mr. Speaker, today, I am introducing the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2019.
This commonsense legislation will empower loved ones and members of law enforcement to prevent acts of gun violence. When people are in crisis and pose a threat to themselves or others, those closest to them are often the first to know.
Two-thirds of all gun deaths are suicides. Extreme risk protection laws can prevent these tragedies. These laws have the power to prevent mass shootings and intimate partner gun violence.
Fifteen States and the District of Columbia currently have extreme risk laws, and these laws have received bipartisan support.
It is our duty, as lawmakers, to ensure the safety of all Americans, and extreme risk laws are a powerful tool that should be available for every single community across our Nation. This is why we need the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act.
Nearly 100 people die every single day in America as a result of gun violence. Inaction is no longer an option. We have the power, the ability, and the responsibility to change our laws to save lives.
This legislation will empower Americans to prevent gun deaths. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.
I am a victim of gun violence, and I have worked many long hours, days, months, and years working with and talking to the victims who suffer needlessly from unnecessary gun violence.
It is a tragedy for this body to continue to not pass legislation that would save lives. That is what we are brought here to do. That is who we are. For us to continue to turn a blind eye to the number of people who continue to die every single day due to unnecessary gun violence is unconscionable.
I urge my colleagues to stand on the right side of preserving democracy and making sure that everyone in this Nation has the ability to be able to live here without the fear of being gunned down. That is their right, to live in this country with the freedom from unnecessary gun violence.
For every day that passes by and every tragedy that we continue to have, when we turn a blind eye, we do a great disservice to the American people. On behalf of all victims, like myself, the victims of Virginia, and the victims that we continue to see every single day, if we do not stand up to protect them, then we are not standing for democracy.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source