DeLauro Calls on Congress to Stand Up and Vote to End Gun Violence

WASHINGTON, DC (July 6, 2016) — Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) today spoke on the House floor to call on Congress to bring commonsense gun violence prevention bills to the House floor for a vote. During her remarks, DeLauro noted that the American people are demanding a vote and that Congress has a moral responsibility to address the issue of gun violence. DeLauro also told the story of Kimberly Morris, a Connecticut native who was killed last month at the Pulse nightclub shooting.

Click here to watch the full remarks.

Here are the remarks, as delivered:

Mr. Speaker, when I arrived home last night, I found this note. And I won’t say the name of the family who sent it, but I will just briefly read a bit of the content.

“Dear Congresswoman DeLauro, thank you for standing up for gun legislation. My three kids and I traveled from Westport, Connecticut to DC today to support all those who are taking a stand. I hope my children remember that our government will speak up for those who can’t, and protect those it serves.”

Stand up and protect—that’s the oath of office that we take. That is what our job is.

And I rise today to urge my colleagues across the aisle to pursue common-sense gun violence legislation. We need to vote—to vote—on legislation that makes an impact on the epidemic of gun violence in this country. The people of this great nation are demanding a vote—and we have a moral obligation and a responsibility to take action.

We need to move a ‘No Fly, No Buy’ bill—one that actually prevents potential terrorists from getting dangerous weapons. Eighty five percent of the American public supports this legislation. When we were elected to serve, we were charged with a responsibility—the responsibility to give our constituents a voice in Washington, DC. They are crying out for action and if we do not provide that action, what were sent here to do? I say very frankly to the American public; if we are not addressing this need, send us home. Send us home.

But our work cannot stop just with ‘No Fly, No Buy.’ We need to address the issue of universal background checks. I would go a step further—I would ban assault weapons. I think we need to hold gun manufacturers accountable for crimes committed with their guns. I believe we need additional mental health resources and to fund mental health programs sufficiently, so that people get the help that they need. And we need to conduct research on gun violence.

For each of us, it is personal. In every community in this country, the effects of gun violence have left scars, scars that are never going to heal. Again in my home state of Connecticut, we know how devastating this can be. After the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, we lost six incredible, caring adults and 20 beautiful children. And we said never again.

Yet since Sandy Hook, there have been hundreds of gun deaths in Connecticut. Brothers, sisters, children, babies. The same story is true across our country—on the streets of our cities every day, in movie theaters, in churches, in nightclubs, in safe havens.

The massacre in Orlando was one of the deadliest shootings in American history. 49 people at the Pulse were killed, wounded 53—I’d like to just take a moment to remember just one of them: Kimberly Morris—though her friends called her KJ.

She was from Connecticut and she worked at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. She had recently moved from Hawaii to Orlando to help care for her mother and grandmother. Friends said she always wore a smile.

A former basketball teammate of KJ’s from Post University in Waterbury, Connecticut said that KJ was “the sweetest person – I don’t think I’ve ever seen her upset. What I would say is that she had a happy soul.”

She was only 37 when she was murdered at Pulse nightclub. Her death, and the deaths of the other 48 people who were killed in this atrocious hate crime, have left a void that cannot be filled for their families, for their friends, for the LGBT community, and for the American people.

The victims’ families do not get a break from grief—so we will not take a break until we get a bill—a bill, with concrete, enforceable measures that will stop the killings. We must bring comprehensive, common-sense gun violence prevention measures to the floor of this people’s house—reject measures that fall short of the standards that this country deserves. It is the very least that we can do for the families who suffer grief that most of us will never understand. That is what our job is. That is what you elected us to do: to protect people, to protect the American people.

Not one more death. Not one more empty moment of silence, followed by inaction. The American people deserve concrete gun violence legislation. They deserve to know that their elected officials are standing up for them, and protecting them. I yield back the balance of my time.

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