Mary Gay Scanlon: “While I would love to rise in celebration of the first day of summer, the cold, hard fact is that, as temperatures soar…”

“While I would love to rise in celebration of the first day of summer, the cold, hard fact is that, as temperatures soar, so does urban gun violence. During a graduation party last weekend in my district in southwest Philadelphia, a gunman opened fire, claiming one life and injuring five other people. Last weekend, 23 separate shootings claimed 32 victims and caused five deaths in just 2 days in Philadelphia--23 shootings and five deaths in one weekend. What is infuriating is that there are proven, commonsense measures that will reduce gun violence in our cities, and the number one strategy is background checks. 115 days have passed since the House sent two bipartisan, commonsense gun safety bills to the Senate. They would have strengthened our background checks. And what has the Senate done? Nothing. During those 115 days, 11,400 people have died from gun violence in the United States. Senator McConnell likes to joke about his legislative graveyard, but countless families are actually burying their loved ones while he does nothing. The American people deserve better. Our children deserve better. ____________________”