Thomas Daschle: “this weekend an estimated 750,000 mothers, fathers, and children united for the Million Mom March here in the District.…”

“this weekend an estimated 750,000 mothers, fathers, and children united for the Million Mom March here in the District. These women and men took the first step toward ending the epidemic of gun violence in our country. Certainly, Congress needs to take the next step. It is intolerable that commonsense gun safety legislation is stalled in a conference committee that has not met since August 5 of 1999. Twelve kids die a day from gun violence and we do nothing. We have more safety regulations for toy guns than for real guns, and we do nothing. We have watched children shot in schools and day-care centers, but still we do nothing. Yesterday, the Democratic Policy Committee held a hearing with mothers from the Million Mom March. At the hearing, I heard stories that I must say will haunt me for a long time. I listened to a kindergarten schoolteacher talk about her horror when one of her seemingly innocent students, a kindergartner, brought a gun to school to kill a classmate. She remains afraid to teach and afraid for her students. I listened to the mother of an aspiring high school graduate who was gunned down in front of his girlfriend's home while unloading groceries. As she talked about her loss, and demanded Congress act, she said simply: I don't want this to happen to any other mother, father, sister or brother. I don't want anyone else to suffer like this.”