Sam Gibbons: “like my colleagues here, we all rise today to express our grief and sadness to the families of Littleton, Colorado, and…”

“like my colleagues here, we all rise today to express our grief and sadness to the families of Littleton, Colorado, and once again the television sets across this country have flashed the words, ``breaking news.'' This is another incident of violence that has occurred at one of our Nation's schools. Yesterday, senseless and tragic shooting at Columbine High School is another painful reminder of the risk our children face every day as they attend school. Last year in my district I held several townhall meetings to discuss the issue of school violence. The interest generated by these forums provided an important dialogue for community leaders across Nevada. They are doing an important job in helping to find the solutions to prevent these terrible incidents from occurring in our State. As Members of Congress, we have the responsibility to work in a bipartisan manner to provide our teachers, parents, students and school officials with a safe, drug-free learning environment. Our students, their education, their future and their safety demand no less. Mr. Speaker, with a heavy heart, I yield back the balance of my time and pray for the families in Colorado.”