February 4, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 23 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Page H758]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





          RECOGNIZING THE TOLL GUN VIOLENCE TAKES ON SURVIVORS

  (Ms. SPEIER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the toll that gun 
violence takes on survivors left to struggle in the wake of unspeakable 
tragedy.
  When we talk about gun violence, we usually focus on lives lost, but 
the full cost of gun violence is measured in the lives irreparably 
changed by physical and mental wounds. Survivors are the students who 
hid under desks and in closets at their schools, domestic violence 
victims who tried to hold front doors shut and shield their children, 
and families left with holes where loved ones used to be. I know 
because I am a gun violence survivor.
  According to Everytown, 58 percent of Americans have witnessed or 
been threatened with gun violence or know someone who has. This is 
National Gun Violence Survivors Week. Let's honor survivors by refusing 
to let their experiences become the new normal.

                          ____________________