Congress Owes The American People Gun Safety Reform

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, shame on us. Twenty kids killed in Newtown, Connecticut. You can see their faces here.

Six college kids killed this week in Santa Barbara. Guns kill more young people in America than cancer, yet we can't pass universal background checks, an assault weapons ban, or limits on massacre magazines.

Shame on us. We even have a gag order on any publicly funded health research into gun violence. As Edmund Burke said:

There is no issue that is so controversial that it cannot be debated.

I would add that there is no issue that is so controversial that it cannot be researched, especially if such research could save lives.

Congress is failing the American people, and it is time to stop. Let's pass the Thompson amendment today. We owe it to the families who have lost loved ones to gun violence, and we owe it to the families whose loved ones could be saved by real gun safety reforms.

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