Political Quotes

“With over 30 Americans killed by a gun every single day, for far too long I have been saying that inaction is not an option. Yet, in my 3-plus years in Congress, House Republicans have refused to do anything on gun violence. This week's lackluster, Beltway, big-gun-lobby-written bill is the only gun vote this Congress has had. Why is it that when our country was facing a horrific opioid epidemic, we empowered our local, State, and Federal governments with the resources necessary to combat this issue? And why is it that when a terrorist boarded a plane with a bomb in his shoe, we passed legislation that makes passengers remove their shoes when they go through airport security? Yet, after countless mass shootings and daily violence in the streets of Chicago, Newark, and Baltimore, we do nothing. Many of us here today are still rightfully discussing the horrible 49 deaths in Orlando a few weeks ago, but I would like to share two other statistics with you about gun violence since Orlando. During our honorable colleague, Senator Chris Murphy's 15-hour filibuster, 48 people in America were shot. Forty-eight people in 15 hours. In Chicago, the last month has seen 79 people lose their lives to gun violence. Seventy-nine lost souls: Fabian Lavinder; Kevin Montell Atkins, Jr.; Victor Felix; Marshawn Clinkscale; Kaysar Chako; Joseph Harden; Jamaal Bellamy; Christian Bandemer; Daniel Alcantara; Anthony Howard; Darnell Hardeman; William Palmer; Kori O.…”