Mazie Hirono: “our country demands that we take action to confront the crisis of gun violence. One hundred people die from gun violence…”

“our country demands that we take action to confront the crisis of gun violence. One hundred people die from gun violence in our country every single day. If 100 people died every day because of any other single cause, even Republicans would call it an epidemic and demand that we do something about it. Think about it. The lives of 100 men, women, and children are cut tragically short by someone using a firearm every single day in our country. Some of them are killed sitting in church, others while shopping for school supplies, and others while sitting in their classrooms. Some are targeted because they are Latino, Jewish, Muslim, Black, gay, or transgender. Some are killed for reasons we will never know. Victims of gun violence come from all walks of life and different circumstances, but they were all struck down by someone with a firearm--firearms which in many cases were purchased legally because we have gaping loopholes in our gun safety laws; firearms which, even when purchased legally, too often end up in the hands of someone who has absolutely no business owning a gun. There are a lot of steps Congress can take--and my colleague just articulated some of them--to combat the crisis of gun violence in our country. We can ban assault weapons. We can ban high-capacity magazines. We can look at requiring gun licensing at the national level.…”