Transcript of Pelosi Remarks at Event with Everytown for Gun Safety
Contact: Speaker's Press Office, 202-226-7616 | |
Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action for an event on gun violence. Below are the Speaker's remarks: Speaker Pelosi. Hi, guys. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being there for America's children. Thank you for not looking away. [Applause] This morning in our Caucus, we heard something so beautiful For The Children. From Lucy McBath, sharing her anguish, her grief and turning it into action to save lives. Listening to her raises the question: why? Why would someone be against raising the age so that teenagers do not have AK-47s? [Applause] Why would someone not want protection in their home so that the children cannot have access – dangerously – to guns in a deadly way? Why would we? Why would we not side with our law enforcement and say these ghost guns are a danger to all of us in our society? [Applause] The list goes on and on. And today on the Floor, we will be addressing those, and I'm very happy about it. Lucy challenged us to make history today. We will make history by making progress. Making progress. [Applause] My – my concern with all of this now – gun violence has been an issue – gun violence protection is something we have been all fighting. I salute Mike Thompson, the Chair of our Task Force, for the work that they've been doing in a bipartisan way, in a bipartisan way. But now they've crossed the threshold into schools. Chris Murphy, thank you for – thank you for your persistent and great leadership. Tied to Newtown but all throughout. Our children are our future. President Kennedy said our children are our greatest resource and our best hope for the future. They are our precious treasure. We must not have them be afraid to go to school, or go to church or go to the movies or anything else. We owe it to the children to preserve a culture in which they are, again, protected. This gun issue, this violence issue is changing – could change the culture of America. Yes, they say mental health issues. Yes, we want to address mental health issues. Other countries have mental health issues. They don't have a gun violence epidemic. [Applause] So, For The Children, I say to our colleagues: we really don't want to hear about your political survival. Your political survival means nothing compared to the survival of our children. [Applause] So thank you, Moms Demand Action. We had our kickoff event last week in San Francisco, Moms Demand Action. [Shannon] Watts, where is she? [Shannon], thank you. I don't know where she is, but [Shannon] Watts, thank you for your leadership in this regard. A little girl, fifth grade, spoke. She lost, on two different occasions, both of her parents to gun violence. Grade school children being advocates for gun violence protection in our country, as well as moms and dads who've lost their children. This is – we – you all are really the key. As Chris Murphy was saying, we can just do so much in terms of our inside maneuvering. Without the outside mobilization, we cannot have the level of success that our children need – that they deserve and that we will not stop until we provide for them. Thank you, Moms Demand Action. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you, Everytown. Thank you all for not looking away. Thank you so much. [Applause] Lucy McBath. [Applause] # # # | |