Jared Huffman: “What if I told you there was an epidemic in the United States that has killed close to 40,000 people, just in the year…”

“What if I told you there was an epidemic in the United States that has killed close to 40,000 people, just in the year 2019 alone? And what if I told you this epidemic has taken the lives of almost 8,000 people since 2014 in California alone? I am not talking about coronavirus, or Ebola, or AIDS, or some global pandemic. This public health crisis is uniquely American. I am talking, of course, about gun violence. We have let this public health epidemic go unchecked far too long. If gun violence were a disease with the death numbers I just shared with you, we would not rest until we had a cure. But because many Members of Congress are frozen in their ability to act in the face of the money the NRA pours into the gun lobby, we haven't acted; especially the Senate has not stepped up to act. This week is National Gun Violence Survivors Week, where we honor the lives lost to gun violence and share the stories of those whose lives have been affected. This disease does have a cure. We need the Senate to hear our urgency and to act on gun violence legislation now. ____________________”