On the recordJune 22, 2023
I want to follow the remarks of the majority leader. Last Saturday night, there was a Juneteenth celebration in Willowbrook, IL. There was music and people gathered in a parking lot of a strip mall, and they were having a generally good time. And then gunfire erupted. At the end of just a few minutes, 1 person was dead and 22 had been wounded--Saturday night. That wasn't the only gun violence in the region over the holiday weekend. We estimate that at least 14 were killed and another 61 injured from gunfire. It is a common occurrence, sadly, across America. We have felt it in Illinois. Some estimate that we have had over 50 mass shootings so far this month, and we are only at June 22. What is going on in America? It is a serious question. But what has happened every weekend in communities across this country is a reminder that Americans cannot gather to celebrate a holiday, a graduation, or even a funeral without the ever-present threat of gun violence. It goes without saying, but I am going to repeat it: Gunfire is the No. 1 killer of America's children. Gunfire is the No. 1 killer of America's children. Many of my constituents beg me to do something as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. They say: Can't you at least regulate the use of some of these guns so that they don't get in the hands of people who will misuse them? I tell them that I want to do that and I share their sentiments but I don't have the votes to do it.…





