Political Quotes

“Thank you, Mr. President. I hope the Presiding Officer had a great Mother's Day. I hope Senator Klobuchar had a great Mother's Day and got a phone call from her daughter in Connecticut. I am here to tell the story of three pretty heroic mothers who are representative of far too many with similar stories across the country. I wish to tell you very quickly this afternoon about Gwen Cox Salley, Lori Gellatly, and Marianne O'Shields. All three of them are no longer with us. They are amongst the 31,672 victims of gun violence every year, 2,639 deaths a month, and 86 people a day who are killed by guns all across this country. I wish to try to lend a voice to a few of these victims tonight, mothers who were killed by their intimate partners, by their spouses, in an act of domestic violence that frankly could have been prevented if not for the law of this land. First, the story of Gwen Cox Salley. Gwen was killed 2 days after she finally took out a restraining order against her husband. She had a long history of abuse with her husband Michael Scott Salley. Most recently he had come to her house the day before she took out this restraining order and threatened to kill her and their 7-year-old daughter. He tried to get access to his gun that was on the property, but she was able to hide it and then very quietly texted a couple of her friends that she was in trouble. The police came, and before violence erupted they were able to arrest him.…”