On the recordApril 26, 2013
I appreciate my friend from Texas yielding. Over the past 5 months, our Nation has seen unspeakable horrors bestowed upon the children of our country, from the massacre in Newtown--the 23 innocent, young first graders who lost their lives--to just recently in the Boston bombing, where many lost their lives, but specifically, a third grader, Richard Martin, lost his life. Richard, a couple weeks before, had just made his First Communion. There is a picture of Richard in a sharp white suit with a proud, toothless smile. He lost his life in Boston. His little sister, Jane, who was by him was also hit by the bomb. She lost her leg. She was just starting to take Irish step dancing classes. She will now be in recovery for months and years from that bombing. We have to look at what's happening in our country with regard to violence against children. As a country, we have to soul-search about violence against our children, and we have been soul-searching. Our families, our communities, we've been soul-searching in this institution about that very violence. We've had a conversation about: How do we protect our children? How do we keep them from this violence and scourge that is spreading across our country? But we soul-search.…





