Earl Blumenauer: “my goal in coming to Congress was to help make the Federal Government a better partner in making communities more…”

“my goal in coming to Congress was to help make the Federal Government a better partner in making communities more livable, our families safer, healthier, and more economically secure. Clearly, safety from the threat of gun violence is one critical element in a livable community. Since I started my public service career, over 1 million Americans have lost their lives to gun violence. That is more than all the United States citizens who have lost their lives in battle from the Civil War through last week to the 17 who were tragically killed in Yemen. Part of the solution to this epidemic of gun violence is to put a name to those faces, to make them real. One of those faces belongs to a woman named Candice DuBoff Jones, who was a bright, caring 26-year-old attorney who happened to be a law school classmate of mine in Portland, Oregon. One morning at 10:30, she was having a hearing on a domestic relations matter two floors below where I was working as a county commissioner. Shots rang out.…”