Gun Violence is the Leading Cause of Death for American Children

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to once again call for urgent action to address the epidemic of gun violence in our Nation. What is wrong with us as a people who we are increasingly here in this well mourning needless gun deaths, yet we can't move in this body any commonsense, wildly popular policies to keep our children and our communities safe?

How many more shootings will we have to endure? How many more lives will have to be lost before Congress--let me be specific here--before my Republican colleagues will do anything to help take care of our kids and our communities?

We have put to this Congress legislation to require universal background checks, ban assault weapons, get ghost guns off our streets, and store firearms safely. Yet, not one of my Republican colleagues can find the will or the courage to support any of this lifesaving legislation. For goodness' sake, these bills are law-and-order legislation.

Every day, more than 100 people die from gun violence in this country. In the first 6 months of this year alone, more than 23,000 people have lost their lives needlessly to gun violence in the United States. I represent Highland Park, Illinois, which is still reeling from a mass shooting last July Fourth when seven people were murdered and more than 40 grievously wounded.

Last year, that was the 308th mass shooting in the country. This year, we have already had more than 390 mass shootings.

These deaths impact us all. The trauma resonates throughout our society. Right now, in America, when our children enter kindergarten, one of the first things they learn is how to react and behave if an active shooter enters their school.

As has been noted, gun violence is the leading cause of death for children in the United States. As it says right there on the board, guns are the leading cause of death for children in the United States.

Children are suffering post-traumatic stress from Highland Park in my communities and in communities all around this Nation. Children are facing violence every single day as they walk to school, as they study in their class, and as they join their families in houses of worship.

Republican inaction is unconscionable. As I spend time in my district talking to constituents, I constantly hear about how Congress needs to tackle this issue.

Earlier this month, I held a roundtable with police chiefs in our community. There were 17 community police chiefs plus our county sheriff. The very first issue they raised with me, which was brought up earlier by Mr. Thompson, was getting ghost guns off of our streets.

For those unfamiliar, ghost guns are unserialized and untraceable firearms that can be bought online and assembled at home. These are bought online by criminals and bought online by young kids who are too young to buy guns in a store.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud today to be introducing the Ghost Guns and Untraceable Firearms Act with my colleague and friend, Representative Adriano Espaillat. Our legislation would amend the legal definition of a firearm to include ghost guns, requiring those who buy gun components to comply with Federal gun regulations.

I urge leadership to bring this and other critical commonsense gun violence prevention bills to the floor immediately. This is not a Republican or a Democratic issue. This issue affects every American in every community in every State of our Nation, and we have to do our jobs in this body to keep our communities and our children safe.

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