Leading Against White Supremacy Act of 2023

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, earlier this evening, we gathered on this floor to observe a moment of silence. We have been doing that quite a bit over the last several years, but it seems to me that it is time for us to take some action on something that is very important to the American people.

This week, our Nation is collectively mourning the senseless murder of eight people at the hands of a white supremacist, a neo-Nazi shooter in Allen, Texas. In the days since, we have heard gut-wrenching stories of pain and devastation, like 6-year-old William Cho, who lost his entire family in the massacre, and the deaths of sisters Daniela and Sofia Mendoza, 11 and 8, who were both in elementary school.

Then there is Steven Spainhouer, an everyday citizen who tried to administer aid after the tragedy. I watched him on television this week, and he was very vivid.

If my memory serves, he is a former police officer, and he talked about how he felt when he turned over a body to remove a child from underneath its dead mother's body.

This tragedy comes nearly 1 year after the lives of 19 children and 2 teachers were taken in Uvalde, Texas, and just a few weeks before the 8-year anniversary of the mass shooting perpetrated by another white supremacist at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

We have taken some important steps in response to these tragedies. I have reintroduced my bill to close the deadly Charleston loophole that allowed the Mother Emanuel AME Church shooter to obtain a gun. Because of his record, he should not have been able to get a gun.

Because this Congress has refused to close this loophole, which says if you can't complete the background check in 3 days, irrespective of your background, irrespective of whether or not you are eligible to have a gun, if, for any reason, that background check is not completed in 3 days, you can still get the gun. That is silly.

We have no idea why that young man's information was keyed in wrong. Did he intentionally give the wrong information, or did West Columbia get confused with Columbia? They found the problem, but it was too late. It was more than 3 days. He already had the gun, and nine of my constituents lost their lives because of that loophole.

We refuse to say we will close it. That makes no sense.

We enacted the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to require enhanced background checks for people under 21, provide protection for victims of domestic violence, and institute criminal offenses for Federal and State straw purchasing and gun trafficking and some significant investments in mental health treatment.

In a shocking and long-overdue turn of events, Texas Republicans, on Monday, unexpectedly allowed a bill that would raise the purchase age for semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21 to advance out of a Texas House committee. I am very pleased to see that, but I am wondering what will happen when that bill gets to the floor.

Raising the age to purchase a gun made for war from 18 to 21, that, to me, tells it all--to allow a teenager that we would not allow to walk into a restaurant and order an alcoholic beverage but will be allowed to purchase a weapon of war.

For all of our progress, more must be done.

There have been over 200 mass shootings this year alone. I think we all know the definition of a mass shooting is four or more injuries, irrespective of whether or not they are fatal.

In 2019 and 2020, we didn't reach this grim milestone until late June. Between 2016 and 2018, the country passed 200 mass shootings in late July. Two years ago, late June; 2 years before that, late July; this year, early May. What will it be next year? This epidemic is growing more and more deadly with each passing year.

My Democratic colleagues understand the weight of these tragedies and are prepared to advance the legislation needed to protect our communities.

To our colleagues across the aisle and in the Senate, I say silence gives consent. For us to remain silent on this issue is to give consent to these tragedies.

It is not enough to denounce the actions of mass shooters and offer thoughts and prayers in tweets and on cable news. My colleagues on the other side's refusal to join House Democrats in advancing serious gun violence prevention measures signifies that your silence and your consent represent your feelings.

Legislative actions such as closing the Charleston loophole, strengthening red flag laws, and getting weapons of war off our streets would not prohibit law-abiding citizens from purchasing a gun.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why it is that all of us can readily agree that there should be a limit on the First Amendment of the United States that protects speech but no limit on the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution that authorizes the possession of firearms.

Nobody wants to take anybody's guns away. We are trying to take measures that will keep guns out of the hands of hateful people like these white supremacists who are killing people because they don't like their skin color, people who are mentally ill who have had all kinds of fantasies that are killing people because we do not have the intestinal fortitude to put constraints on their abilities to purchase these guns.

These policies, which have broad support among the American people, would save lives without infringing on anybody's Second Amendment rights.

Mr. Speaker, I implore my Republican colleagues and the Senate to join us in taking a stand to protect our communities. This epidemic will not end until we act.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, from the 1st Congressional District of the Great State of Illinois, to include in the Record a letter signed by over 650 faith leaders urging President Biden to declare Mother's Day as a National Day of Prayer, Mourning, Repentance, and Contemplation To End Gun Violence.

Over 650 Faith Leaders Call for Mother's Day To Be Declared a National

Day of Prayer, Mourning, Repentance, and Contemplation, To End Gun

Violence

Dear President Biden: The epidemic of gun violence has

become so dire that nearly 1 in 5 adults in the United States

have lost a family member to a gun death. Mass shootings have

escalated so much in recent years (23% since the start of the

COVID-19 pandemic began) that as of April 12, there have

already been at least 147 mass shootings so far this year. It

is a war taking place in our schools, houses of worship,

supermarkets, movie theatres, homes, businesses nightclubs,

and more. While some may throw up their arms and say that

this is a battle too large to win, we, an interfaith

coalition, made up of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus,

Buddhists, and other faith traditions, remember the miracles

of ancient times and remain optimistic that this scourge can

be overcome.

Do we really believe as a nation that the second amendment

and the profits of those who manufacture AR-15-style assault

rifles, Hellfire missiles, and other instruments of death

should take primacy over our rights to life, liberty, and the

pursuit of happiness?

We thank you for having last year pushed through Congress

the first major gun violence protection legislation in 30

years, for highlighting the issue during this year's State of

the Union, and the executive order you issued last month.

Given the gravity and urgency of this issue, we ask for

more. We appeal to you to declare this Mother's Day, Sunday,

May 14, 2023, to be a national day of repentance, mourning,

prayer, and reflection to address the culture of gun violence

that is staining our collective soul.

We ask for our lawmakers and faith institutions to reflect

this Mother's Day on how we are allowing gun manufacturers,

the gun lobby, and a culture of gun worship to hold our

country hostage.

Mary, a role model for motherhood, stood at the foot of the

cross witnessing brutality, inhumanity, and death being

inflicted on her child. Today we are all parents looking on

as the brutality and death from another mass shooting is

inflicted on our children. At the same time, we are painfully

aware that gun violence is a racial justice issue. Black

Americans are twice as likely as white Americans to die from

gun violence.

Esther was counseled by her uncle Mordecai that she was

born for such a time as this. For her to go to the King and

expose the plots designed to steal the lives of young and old

alike. In that same vein, your administration has come into

office for such a time as this. Will you squander the demand

of this historical time, or go like Esther into the fury to

save lives and people?

The Holy Quran, Surah 5 verse 32, teaches: ``Whoever kills

one person, it is as if they killed all of humanity.'' The

various holy books teach us that ``to save a life is to save

the world entire.'' We are responsible to one another and

responsible to all life.

As faith leaders, we call on you, and on our communities,

to manifest our prayers and create a new covenant--a

reclaiming of the name of G-d--committed to honoring and

saving lives. We must pray together, not only with our words,

but with our feet, and take action, like Esther did, in such

a time as this!

In memory of the lives lost in Nashville--Evelyn Diekhaus

(9), William Kinney (9), Hallie Scruggs (9), Mike Hill (61),

Katherine Koonce (60), Cynthia Peak (61), the lives lost in

the Kentucky bank shooting on April 10, and the rest of the

nearly 50,000 people that die every year in the United States

from guns, we ask you to declare Mother's Day 2023 a national

day to end gun violence and heal our country.

Sincerely,

Over 650 faith leaders including Rev. Jesse Jackson; Bp.

Vashti Murphy McKenzie, Interim President & General

Secretary, National Council of Churches of Christ, USA; Dr.

Cornel West; Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Executive Director of

the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice;

Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, General Secretary Emeritus,

Reformed Church in America; Rabbi Jill Jacobs, C.E.O.,

T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights; Rabbi Jonah

Pesner, Executive Director, Religious Action Center of Reform

Judaism; Dr. Shane Claiborne, Red Letter Christians; Rev.

Hope Christensen, Co-Chair of Faith Leaders for Ending Gun

Violence; Rev. Adam Russell Taylor, President, Sojourners;

Rev. Jim Wallis, Archbishop Desmond Tutu Chair, Center on

Faith & Justice, Georgetown University; Dr. Daisy Khan,

Executive Director, Women's Islamic Initiative in

Spirituality and

Equality (WISE); Dr. Tarunjit Singh Butalia, Executive

Director, Religions for Peace USA; Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer,

General Minister and President, United Church of Christ; Rev.

Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray, President, Unitarian Universalist

Association; Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson, President, Auburn

Seminary; Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, President, Union Theological

Seminary.

Mr. Speaker, I begin by thanking Congresswoman Cherfilus- McCormick and Congressman Jackson for holding the CBC Special Order hour on gun violence in America.

Last week, our Nation was shocked by the acts of horrific violence in Allen, Texas, where eight souls were lost unnecessarily.

How many killings must we endure?

We are here tonight to send a message that we must keep guns out of the hands of criminals and would-be terrorists, and we must expand background checks for individuals looking to purchase guns. We must pass some commonsense legislation that provides avenues to get guns off of our streets.

Legislation like my Safer Neighborhoods Gun Buyback Act would utilize Federal grants to get guns out of the hands of criminals. Programs like it have been proven to work all over this Nation, from coast to coast. We need to act on this bill and others like it to protect American lives.

It is unacceptable that countless Americans continue to die senselessly from gun violence and Congress stands idly by. They do nothing.

I came up with a phrase back after Newtown. The NRA, which is really who pushes this: The NRA stands for ``no Republican action.''

Here we are once again. Yes, we stood up for a moment of silence tonight once again. Then once the gavel hit the rostrum, everybody walked away and that was the end of that. My colleagues on the other side feel good after that, after they stand up and acknowledge that. But that is the extent of what they are willing to do, just stand up to honor these people for a moment. That is all they can spare. That is all they can give to the American people who are suffering, children suffering.

This issue is so pervasive that it impacts us everywhere: movie theaters, churches, schools, banks, post offices, businesses, everywhere. That is an epidemic. COVID was everywhere. That was an epidemic. This gun violence is everywhere. That is an epidemic.

But what do we do? Stand up, quiet for a moment, and then onto the next thing.

I see it at home in New Jersey in my district, New Jersey's 10th Congressional District. The 10th Congressional District, unfortunately, has one-third of the State's total gun deaths in New Jersey. I know my constituents know the destruction that gun violence inflicts. This is a problem that will continue to grow without swift legislation and action.

But my words are just going into the wind. My colleagues on the other side don't hear this. The American people want real action on gun violence. The NRA endorsed Republicans, which is practically the entire party, and has offered no substantive legislation to keep our communities safe from gun violence.

My colleagues are the majority now. Let's see what we implement. I can answer that now: nothing.

So many of our constituents are haunted by the gun violence that is taking their loved ones, and that is why Democrats are in favor of stronger gun laws to keep these weapons out of dangerous hands.

We are not asking to take anybody's guns, but we can't have enough mindset to say: Hey, there is a problem here? I don't know where my colleagues on the other side are listening and getting this from. Eighty-seven

percent of this country says that we need stricter gun laws, but you don't hear them.

Too many lives have been stolen, too many children killed. Can't Republicans feel the pain of the survivors of these victims' families?

The American people are calling for passage of meaningful legislation to address gun violence. They are calling for action to stop mass killings in this country. They are calling to stop the taking of innocent children's lives in their schools.

I couldn't imagine sending my children to school these days and wondering if they are going to make it home. I am sending them there to be educated. I am not sending them there to do armed drills. What happens if there is an active shooter? That is what they are learning?

I look at my colleagues across the aisle and ask: Is there nothing that we can do together to stop this?

When children cannot go to school without fear of being shot, when innocent Americans cannot go to a nightclub or a movie theater or church without fear of being executed, then it is time for a new approach. The Congressional Black Caucus, with our Democratic colleagues, stands ready to deliver that approach.

Mr. Speaker, I want to read to you from a letter sent to me by a student at Cranford High School in Cranford, New Jersey, named Alessandra, who puts into words the thoughts of most Americans. She wrote: ``Although the Second Amendment of the Constitution protects the right to gun ownership, this does not mean that Congress cannot pass more laws to restrict the kinds of firearms and people buying them. As a high school student from Cranford High School, this issue affects me daily as the number of school shootings increases.''

Mr. Speaker, I will close and say that we have a responsibility to our constituents, like Alessandra. We have a responsibility to ensure our Nation's laws keep us safe and to ensure that we hear their voices and act on their behalf.

Mr. Speaker, 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.

I come here today to insist on my own State taking a stand to ensure that the people who are crying cry no more.

The individual who killed the people in the mall in Allen, Texas, family members removed him from their house. He was tattooed with huge Nazi and white supremacy insignia.

My bill that I introduced, H.R. 61, indicates that white supremacy is hate, it is a hate crime, and I amended the hate crime bill to ensure that if you die because of white supremacy, they get an enhanced sentence due to hate crime legislation.

He only lasted 3 months in the United States military. We have to do a better job communicating about individuals--not brave soldiers who have PTSD, but individuals like this who didn't even last because of his views and attitudes and behavior. He obviously hated viciously, but he was able to get an AR-15.

After Uvalde, the State of Texas, the Governor's office, established a DPS task force that was supposed to monitor social media. Why wasn't this individual monitored, with all of his hate?

Underlying all of that are guns. That is what we spoke about today, guns. We asked the State of Texas, the legislature, my friends, and those who work with Republicans, we asked them to be sure to move this bill to raise the age to 21. The Uvalde parents waited 13 hours. It came out of committee. It has to go to the House and Senate.

I stood there today and asked for universal background checks, and I asked the State of Texas why--with the Safer Communities Act, where we had the red flag laws and, of course, Congresswoman McBath, we led in the House to protect our kids. It was mandatory. It was mandatory. But in the Safer Communities Act, it was optional--our State has not taken advantage of it? They squeaked through and got a few dollars for the veterans court. I am asking the Governor to opt in to the red flag law, universal background checks, the Kimberly Vaughan gun storage legislation, the ban on assault weapons, and raising the age. These are all items that Texas and other States can do without violating the Second Amendment.

I uphold the Second Amendment. Standing with me today, with Moms Demand Action, a young man by the name of Jay Love, who is marred for our lives; along with Captain Phillips, a police officer, who says that 3,200 guns are stolen or taken in Houston, Texas, as the ATF says, out of people's cars. Yet, we can't get Texas to act. Rhonda Hart, whose daughter was killed in Santa Fe, who is begging for relief.

With that kind of pain comes the ability to act. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus who have been at the forefront of leadership. My colleague Robin Kelly has mentioned over and over again the absolute violence that kills children and others.

I close with this simple acknowledgment. There were eight people who died, I believe, in Allen, Texas, three family members, left a little 6-year-old with no one; two sisters. This is what this sinister, evil man did. With evil in his evilness, he did it with a gun.

We must come back to this Congress and do something that is going to make a difference. I hope the Senate can pick it up and realize that we cannot live in this country anymore with the reckless killing and violence that is perpetrated on our loved ones and on Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to be another voice on the epidemic of gun violence in our country.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida and the gentleman from Illinois for leading us in this Special Order hour. Certainly, to the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, we thank Congressman Steven Horsford for keeping this at the forefront of our agenda.

I will begin by saluting the actions of my colleague and friend, Congressman James Clyburn, for leading us in this charge tonight. Listening to him, I remember quite vividly, unfortunately, as I sat in that Charleston, South Carolina, church, the Emanuel AME Church, during the funeral of those killed.

Tonight reminds me of the far too many lives--children and adults-- taken by guns in the hands of a killer who should not have had that gun. You will hear it repeatedly, so I won't go through my entire address. Let me just highlight that gun violence continues to serve as a public health crisis.

I am horrified to see another devastating act of hateful gun violence in America. Let me join others in giving my thoughts and prayers to the families of the eight innocent people who lost their lives due to this tragic hate crime in Allen, Texas.

This story is not a new one, Mr. Speaker. We have seen this play out repeatedly. We are very clear that thoughts and prayers are not enough.

I am honored, again, unfortunately, to have to say that I am a colleague and friend of Congresswoman Robin Kelly, and early on, she sat in that front row and said to us that she would no longer stand up and give 60 seconds for someone who has lost their life, whether it was a mass shooting or whether it was a kid in a playground or a kid in a car. Enough is enough.

A few weeks ago, I stood in this same spot with the same microphone begging, Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues to do more than say to trust in God and let's pray for 60 seconds. Every time we say that, multiple lives are lost in our district.

There have been, as we heard earlier, more than 200 mass shootings in 2023. When will it end? How many lives must be lost? How many mass shootings must occur? How many times must we meet here on this floor for another Special Order hour or another moment of silence for families of the victims who have lost their lives?

Literally, I am standing here begging my Republican colleagues to join us in passing legislation that will help protect our communities.

I have nothing against the Second Amendment. My father was a hunter. I have been around guns all my life. It is not about that. It is about assault weapons. It is about those who should not be able to get a gun without being vetted, without being of proper age, without being able to go in a back alley or to a gun show to buy it. We need legislation like the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

We are coming tonight as Democrats with not just rhetoric and not just begging and pleading. We are giving you resolve and action. We need the first gun control action in decades that will advance more lifesaving measures like universal background checks, banning high- capacity magazines, red flag laws, and raising the age to buy assault weapons. We cannot continue to turn a blind eye.

Lastly, in my district alone, we have seen a number of lives being lost to gun violence. Over the weekend, three shootings across Columbus injured people, including multiple family members and officers. The American people are demanding action.

Mr. Speaker, I say to you: Let it not be about Democrats and Republicans. This is what the American people who elected us are asking us to do. Inaction, Mr. Speaker, should not be an action.

They tell us to direct all comments to you. You sit in the chair tonight. I am asking that when you leave this chair and go to your caucus, you have an obligation, I believe, to share with them what you have heard on this floor tonight and what your constituents have said to you.

I think if we have any conscience of doing what is right for the American people, we will put gun violence at the forefront of our agenda. We will put people over politics no matter what side of the aisle we sit on. We should come together to do the right thing.