Sheila Jackson Lee: “I thank the chairman very much, and I want to join the stellar Members from so many different backgrounds to add another…”

“I thank the chairman very much, and I want to join the stellar Members from so many different backgrounds to add another 2 minutes to that 30 minutes and emphasize that it is now 32 more minutes than we have had an opportunity to discuss gun violence--gun violence against our children. I am reminded of the late John Lewis, and as I look to the front, Mr. Speaker, where you are, I am reminded of the overwhelming impact that gun violence had just a couple of years ago when he was alive, so much so that Members took to the floor--the actual floor--and sat down on the floor because the pain was so deep. I remember the tear that President Obama shed as he had to speak about Sandy Hook. I remember going to Uvalde within days of 19 children and teachers being slaughtered. Yes, Mr. Speaker, they were slaughtered with an AR-15 that a young man was able to get online and have shipped to him without any background check of sorts and without any supervision. He was able to recklessly shoot his grandmother in the face and leave his house to go to an elementary school just a few blocks away. One could not expect law enforcement initially to know what was going to happen. One thing we do know is that if that young man had not had an AR-15, those little babies in Uvalde, where parents are still in such abject pain, would still be alive.…”