On the recordJune 9, 2022
I thank Representative McBath for yielding time. Madam Speaker, 8 years ago, my own community of Isla Vista near UC Santa Barbara saw firsthand the horror and the trauma that a mass shooting brings. In 8 years since that attack, we have stood in solidarity with other communities reeling from the hundreds of mass shootings in our schools, our shopping malls, our houses of worship, and our Main Streets. Madam Speaker, I share the outrage and frustration of the majority of Americans and many of my colleagues here in Congress that there are some in Congress who have kept us from doing our job to protect children by blocking commonsense gun safety measures. I stand before you today as the author of a gun safety measure that has enjoyed bipartisan support, that has been implemented in Republican- and Democratic-led States alike, and that has been proven to reduce gun deaths and stop mass shootings before they happen. I am speaking about extreme risk protection orders or, as they are more commonly known, red flag laws. These laws are simple. If an individual is showing signs that they may be a danger to themselves or others, a police officer or a family member can, through due process, go to a judge and request an extreme risk protection order, which temporarily bars that person from owning or purchasing a firearm. These laws are already on the books in 19 States and the District of Columbia, and in those places, they have saved lives.…
