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Pelosi Floor Remarks in Support of Students Protesting to Demand Action on Gun Violence

March 14, 2018

Contact: Ashley Etienne/Henry Connelly, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. — Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi delivered remarks of the Floor of the House of Representatives to express her support for the students walking out of their schools to demand action on gun violence. Below are the Leader's remarks:

Leader Pelosi. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today thousands of students across the nation are walking out of their schools to demand real action to end the tragedy of gun violence. Young men and women across the country – children, really – from coast to coast and in the heartlands of America are standing up and speaking out for change. Members of Congress will meet some of them on the West Front Lawn to say this, to join them in saying this: enough is enough.

I thank our distinguished colleague from Florida, Mr. [Congressman Ted] Deutch, for his extraordinary leadership, whether it is with the students, with legislation on the Floor or in the community at large to help make the difference.

Here we are, community after community, reeling from the horror of gun violence perpetrated against our children, our families. Our hearts ache for those in Orlando, San Bernardino, Mother Emanuel Church, Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, Parkland, Newtown—the list is a long one. In addition, on the streets and in our homes across the country there has been too much violence and too much pain.

This should not be a political issue. The American people overwhelmingly want action. A full 97 percent of Americans support requiring background checks for all gun buys, including 97 percent of gun owners. There is a commonsense, bipartisan path forward in the Congress. We can take action today on comprehensive background checks without the dangerous Concealed Carry Reciprocity bill, allowing the CDC to study gun violence, and restraining orders that empower law enforcement to intervene when someone is a threat to themselves or others.

We should all be listening to the American people on both sides of the aisle and allow the House to vote on bipartisan gun violence solutions. The families and students suffering from heartbreak of gun violence deserve real leadership in this body, not a Republican White House and a Congress that are saying one thing and doing another. It is deeply disappointing that just days after embracing the need for commonsense bipartisan gun violence prevention, still we have nothing coming forward.

House Democrats have filed discharge petitions to force votes on the Thompson-King bipartisan background check bill with 200 co-sponsors – 200 co-sponsors for a background check bill. That is historic, that is remarkable. The Background Check Completion Act also. Democrats will continue to press for bipartisan progress to reduce the epidemic of gun violence in our nation.

And let me say—as we go out in a little bit to join the students who are doing their walkout across the country. An enormous thank you to them. An enormous thank you to them. While we have sympathy for everyone who has lost a life because of gun violence across the country, they are always in our prayers, in our thoughts, and in our determination to make a difference. The eloquence, the courage, the determination of these young people in Florida to come forward in such an eloquent and articulate way, they have been on the other side of the gun. That should not happen to our children. So while we all respect the Second Amendment and what that means for our country, and while we all want to do something important, we must listen.

And what the kids are doing is on top of a lot of positive action taken by the Bradys, taken by Everytown. Taken by our former colleague Gabby Giffords and her initiative. All over the country, the promise of Newtown, so much activity has happened and now has hopefully culminated in a place where the children – with how savvy they are about social media and the rest, and how they are identifying with each other across the country – will be the tipping point that will make the difference to make our country safer. We thank them for what they are doing, for their leadership. We also thank them for taking their grief and turning it into action to save lives, and to remember how important in all of this the vote is.

So I say to my colleagues, there is not one of us in here whose political survival compares in the slightest least bit to the survival of our children. These kids have the courage to come forward, we have to have the courage to vote and take action to save lives. Ninety-five percent of the American people support us, support legislation to do just that. As we pray and have our moments of silence, let us act upon those sentiments with real action, again, to make a difference.

Again, I salute the kids and look forward to joining the young people, look forward to seeing them on the steps outside on the West Lawn. We will gather in the Rotunda. All Members are invited to gather in the Rotunda to go outside, associate ourselves and sing the praises of these young people to their courage. With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back.

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