February 28, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 37 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Page H2295]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    GUN LAWS THAT MAKE AMERICA SAFE

  (Mr. CARDENAS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CARDENAS. Madam Speaker, I have the honor and the privilege of 
being a Member of the House of Representatives.
  I also am speaking without notes because, over 40 years ago, I lost a 
teenage friend of mine just a few yards from my front door in what was 
perhaps one of the first drive-bys in the history of Los Angeles, a 
senseless killing where a young man on drugs decided to shoot through a 
wall of someone's home--my friend's home. With one shot, Rudy died at 
the age of 16.
  Today, I had the honor and the privilege of voting on a bill that 
would make our streets safer--not solve every problem, but reduce the 
amount of crying and dying that goes on in too many communities around 
America.
  I must say this--and it is unfortunate to have to clarify--because I 
am Latino, people are assuming that the person who shot Rudy was a 
Latino or a Black male or what have you. He was not. He was a young 
man--a victim, himself, of drug abuse--a White young man.
  It should never happen to anyone, and people should never assume that 
it only happens to certain people in certain communities. Tens of 
thousands of human lives are lost every year in the greatest country, 
America, and we need to make it better.

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