On the recordMay 9, 2023
Let me express my appreciation to the gentlewoman from Florida for her grand leadership and the gentleman from Illinois. They have been dynamic. I acknowledge our chair, Congressman Horsford, of the Congressional Black Caucus, who had a very powerful morning this morning, and as well continues to lead us in the right direction. I was late today because I could not leave the pain of Texas without standing with those in a press conference in the Mickey Leland Federal Building to express both our outcry, our pain, and our outrage. Last evening, MSNBC had a headline show that said the ``Lone Star Hate.'' I stand here today to say there are good people in Texas. There are people who are demanding that there be action in the aftermath of the worst couple of days that we have had in a long time. The parents of the Uvalde children waited 13 hours in the State legislature just to be heard on raising the age of those who could purchase weapons of war. In the midst of that, a family who simply wanted their baby to sleep was slaughtered and murdered, in the midst of that, by a person shooting an AR-15. A veteran explained to me that that is an M16, a weapon of war, which maims and kills the enemy so that they cannot rise, not be taken care of, and not move away from other gunfire. Of course, though not by guns, in Brownsville, Texas, some eight or so people were killed who were simply trying to make sure that they had a peaceful place to be.…
