February 27, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 36 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Pages H2264-H2265]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    GUN VIOLENCE: WE NEED TO DO MORE

  (Mr. CASTEN of Illinois asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. CASTEN of Illinois. Madam Speaker, we just voted on H.R. 8. It is 
the first gun control measure we have taken up in years. It is 
progress, but we still have so far to go. There are so many lives that 
have been taken from too many communities.
  On February 15 in Aurora, Illinois, on the edge of my district, that 
was the community where a man with a gun took five innocent lives: 
Trevor Wehner, Clayton Parks, Vicente Juarez, Russell Beyer, and Josh 
Pinkard.
  They were fathers, brothers, sons, uncles, friends, and they joined a 
long line of Americans who have been going about their daily lives and 
got killed.
  Here is what is really sickening: Most of the Members of this body 
don't even know their names. A week from now, you are going to forget 
their names, and you are going to replace them with another set of 
names, not because they don't deserve to be remembered, but because 
every day in America, 100 people get shot.

[[Page H2265]]

  Can we remember all their names? I can't. And shame on us for 
allowing that to happen.
  Occasionally, one of those shootings captures our attention, and we 
offer some thoughts and prayers. Leave that to families. Leave that to 
people of faith. We are lawmakers. Our job is to write the laws, fix 
the laws.
  If we took 100 million guns off the street tomorrow, we would still 
have more guns than any other country. We need to do more.

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