On the recordJune 7, 2022
as the Senate's June work period begins, the American people have one question front of mind: After years and decades of gridlock, will the Senate do something about our Nation's gun violence epidemic? Democrats are ready to take action, and soon every single Member of this Chamber is going to have to answer that question. Today is June 7, 2022. It is the 158th day of the year. Already-- already--this year, we have had over 250 mass shootings--over 250. That is more than one a day. Two weeks ago, we saw the worst school shooting in America since the tragedy at Sandy Hook. An 18-year-old boy bought two assault rifles for his birthday and gunned down 19 children in Uvalde, TX--9-year-olds, 10-year-olds, 11-year-olds. You see the pictures of kids with their sweatshirts, with their awards, with their trophies. Every parent has seen pictures of children that age, and to know that they are no longer--that they were wiped out, that they were brutally murdered-- breaks your heart. It just sends shivers down your spine. A few hours later, after it happened, the parents realized and were told they would never see their children again. Ten days before that, eleven more people were gunned down while grocery shopping in Buffalo, simply because of the color of their skin. I still can't get out of my mind the 3-year-old I met, when I visited Buffalo, who lost his dad because his dad made a quick stop to the Tops Supermarket to get his son a birthday cake.…
