On the recordMarch 14, 2013
The last memory that Lynn McDonnell has of her 7-year-old daughter, Grace, is of a beaming, beautiful girl blowing kisses to her from a bus as she went on her way to Sandy Hook Elementary School. Soon thereafter, tragedy struck. Grace and 19 of her classmates and six teachers were gunned down by a madman with a semiautomatic rifle. Our country came together. We mourned together. And now, Mr. Speaker, I'm asking this Congress, come together and do something so no other family knows the sadness of the McDonnells. Too many lives have been lost and too many communities have been torn apart by violence. Too many families have mourned the loss of their brothers and sisters. Too many people have endured unimaginable pain and grief caused by gun violence. When Lynn McDonnell and her husband, Chris, came to Washington for the State of the Union last month, she said Congress must choose ``action over inaction.'' And I agree. It's been exactly 3 months now since the Newtown massacre. For the McDonnells and the families in Newtown, Aurora, and my hometown of West Palm Beach, I say let's come together and pass responsible gun safety legislation. ____________________
