Congressional Black Caucus Calls for Gun Safety Legislation

Floor Speech

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Ms. KELLY of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for hosting this Special Order hour tonight.

Mr. Speaker, when I ran for Congress, I ran on gun violence prevention. That was 10 years ago, and I am running just as hard today.

I always ask just who or how many have to be killed before we really do something about this public health crisis.

According to a recent study by professors from Harvard and Cambridge, by the age of 40, half of Chicago residents have seen someone shot. Just seeing someone shot is known to cause trauma and PTSD that impacts your ability to lead a happy, healthy life. Our communities deserve better.

Mr. Speaker, 56 percent of Black and Hispanic residents under 40 witnessed a shooting, compared to 25 percent of White residents under 40. Black Chicago residents are more than three times more likely to be shot than White residents. Mr. Speaker, 176 victims have been killed in Chicago in 2023.

Just this weekend alone, 4 people were killed and 22 were wounded because of gun violence in Chicago. This past weekend, a 27-year-old man was shot while putting groceries in his car.

Hours later, a Chicago police officer was fatally shot as she arrived home from work early Saturday. She was 24. Instead of graduating with her master's next week, it will be her funeral.

The next day, a 25-year-old man was killed in a drive-by shooting.

Among the 22 wounded in the past weekend was a 15-year-old boy who was shot in the leg and rushed to the hospital.

In the last month around the country, a young lady was shot and killed while turning into a driveway, something we have all done. A boy was shot because he knocked on the wrong door while looking for his siblings. We have all knocked on the wrong door from time to time. A dad and a little girl were shot because the basketball they were playing with rolled into a neighbor's yard.

Mr. Speaker, two cheerleaders were shot because they went to the wrong car--something I know I have done before--and the guy jumped out and shot the cheerleaders.

Is this the kind of country we want to survive in? I will tell you, this is not living.

We have got to do more. My colleagues have named the various things that we can do, and I work in a very bipartisan way. But I tell you, Mr. Speaker, Republicans have blood on their hands. It is just amazing to me that in these 10 years they have turned a blind eye. They talk about the Second Amendment. Many of us have told them we believe in the Second Amendment, but we also believe that people have the right to go to the park, to go to the store, to go to school, to ride the city bus, to come out of band practice, and to come out of choir practice.

What about those rights for those people?

Think about it.

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