Motion to Discharge

Floor Speech

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Mr. PETERS. Madam President, there are no words that can capture the terror and the tragedy of the horrific events that unfolded at Oxford High School on Tuesday afternoon.

In a matter of minutes, a routine school day was twisted into scenes of chaos, shattering the safe environment that Oxford High students and teachers and families trusted in. This shocking event will change their lives forever. Our heart breaks for every Michigander in America who continues to be affected by this tragedy and so many others like it.

It was a scene that has become all too familiar in America. A gunman opened fire inside a public school, taking four young lives and wounding seven other people. Four students went to school that morning with bright, exciting futures ahead. They never made it home.

Hana St. Juliana, the youngest victim, was only 14 years old. A freshman who was a promising athlete on the volleyball and basketball teams, her teammates remember her as having a kind heart, a silly personality, and an absolute passion for sports. Her father remembers her as the happiest kid, who had a full life ahead of her before it was tragically cut short.

Madisyn Baldwin, a 17-year-old senior and the oldest of three siblings, was preparing to graduate this spring. An aspiring artist and talented student, she recently celebrated acceptances to several colleges, including some under a full-ride scholarship. She will always be remembered by her family and friends as a kind, smart, and loving girl.

Tate Myre was 16 years old, No. 42 on the football team. Tate was a star student athlete and was recently honored with an all-region award from the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association. He had already started college recruitment visits and was looking forward to many more until the unthinkable happened. His friends, his family, and his fellow students remember him as someone who always put his full heart into everything that he did.

And Justin Shilling, a 17-year-old senior, was cocaptain of the school's bowling team. His coworkers called him an exemplary employee, a devoted friend and coworker, and simply an absolute pleasure to be with.

As we mourn Hana, Madisyn, Tate, and Justin, we must also remember the victims who were injured during this attack. At this very moment, dedicated doctors and nurses are working around the clock to ensure that the wounded can swiftly recover. We are all thinking of them and wishing them well, along with those who were wounded, treated, and have now been discharged from the hospital.

As a parent, I just simply cannot imagine the grief and anguish that these families are forced to endure and the unimaginable pain that these parents are feeling in knowing that they can never--never ever-- hold their loving child again.

I am grateful for the brave first responders who quickly responded to this harrowing scene. Thanks to their swift and brave actions, the suspect was apprehended within minutes, preventing even more unspeakable carnage from unfolding. There is no question that the heroic actions of first responders, law enforcement officials, and emergency medical technicians saved lives on Tuesday. We cannot thank enough these brave men and women for all that they do each and every day to keep our communities safe.

For the students and the educators who lived through this horrific act, I can only imagine the trauma and the fear that they will spend the rest of their lives with.

Children who should have been focused on their math homework or on their reading assignments spent terrifying moments fighting to survive and keeping one another safe. Reportedly, as bullets pierced classroom doors, students grabbed scissors and calculators, anything they thought they could use, to defend themselves.

Parents--many of whom received text messages from their children saying there was a shooting and that they loved them--frantically searched for their children in a parking lot in the aftermath, praying that they would be reunited.

The panic, the fear, and the helplessness of being trapped in this nightmare scenario is something that no child, no teacher, and no parent should ever, ever have to face. Now these survivors need our support as they work to process and heal from the shocking and horrific ordeal.

To the Oxford High School community, please know there are millions of Americans who are lifting you up and who share in your sorrow.

In the days and weeks ahead, we may learn more about the heroic actions that students and teachers and first responders took to stop this tragedy from being even worse, but the most heartbreaking fact is that this should have never ever happened in the first place. A school should be a safe place.

I was struck by the words of so many students who said that they had been training for a day like this since elementary school. These students and their teachers had participated in active shooter drills. They knew to lock and barricade doors, to hide, to stay silent, and to run. They had heard about other school shootings wherein the assailants had tried to trick or lure students into their sights, and they stood strong until they knew they would be safe.

While I am so grateful that these lessons, undoubtedly, saved many, many lives this week, I am also heartbroken that our children and our educators have to bear this burden.

There is no easy answer, but it is clear that we must take action. Far too many communities have been devastated by these attacks, and we cannot wait for yet another community to suffer without having tough conversations on what actions Congress should take. The unsettling reality is that our children's lives are at risk when they enter a classroom, and that is something that we simply cannot tolerate.

I know the Members of this body have different policy views, but surely we can agree that a school should be a safe place. Surely we can agree to listen to the students in every single one of our States who say that they live in fear that they could be killed at their desks, and we could agree to have a serious discussion of what needs to change.

There is no single solution that would have prevented this tragedy, like so many others, but let's have a serious discussion about what needs to change to ensure that warnings reach the right officials and that those officials know what actions to take.

Let's have a serious discussion about gun safety issues, background checks, reasonable limits on high-capacity magazines, and closing loopholes that allow dangerous weapons to get into the wrong hands.

And let's have a serious discussion about what our schools, our teachers, and our students need to stay safe. Whether it is more access to counselors, strong threat assessments, or more resources, we have to find common ground that will keep our schools safe. We cannot stand by when we know that it is only a matter of time before the next school, the next community, is shattered.

For Hana, for Tate, for Justin, for Madisyn, for the students, teachers, and families of Oxford High School, and for every student, teacher, and family in the United States, we must act. The time is now.

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