Floor SpeechUrgent2026-06-04

NATIONAL GUN VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH

Gun Policy

Context

On 2026-06-04, Representative Kelly Morrison (D-MN-3) delivered a floor speech titled "NATIONAL GUN VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH" in the House.

Full Text

NATIONAL GUN VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 95 (Thursday, June 4, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 95 (Thursday, June 4, 2026)] [House] [Pages H3837-H3838] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] NATIONAL GUN VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH (Ms. Morrison of Minnesota was recognized to address the House for 5 minutes.) [[Page H3838]] Ms. MORRISON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of June as National Gun Violence Awareness Month. As one Minnesotan wrote: ``I am standing up for our children because we are adults. It is our responsibility to make them feel safe.'' I have a stack of notes here from hundreds of Minnesotans who came together after the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic School, demanding action; calling for commonsense reforms; expressing their grief, anguish, and frustration; and begging for their elected leaders to do something--anything--to respond to the tragedy that left an 8- year-old and a 10-year-old dead, hundreds more forever traumatized, and a community reeling. What are we doing if we are not listening to the American people and not protecting our children? We need to listen to the American people. We need to act to keep our children safe. We need to ban assault weapons, bump stocks, and high-capacity magazine sales, get weapons of war off of our streets, invest in addressing our Nation's mental health crisis, and the list goes on. There won't be one policy alone that will end this public health crisis, but what we can't do is nothing. There are so many steps that we could take immediately. Gun violence is an epidemic that has stained our country, and we are going in the wrong direction. As our country faces hundreds of mass shootings every year, more mass shootings than any country on the face of the planet, the Trump administration is taking an ax to our Nation's gun safety laws and doing the dirty work of the big gun lobby, rolling back dozens of Federal safety regulations, making it easier for criminals to buy and ship guns, cutting funding, and abandoning critical gun violence prevention programs that keep our communities safe. They are doubling down on the number one killer of children in the United States of America. Gun violence is preventable. Our children deserve to be our priority. They deserve to feel safe. They deserve adults who will act. Every day we are here in Congress, we are creating the world that our children will inherit. We should be creating a world where children feel safe at school, where they can be healthy and thrive, not where they live in fear and see adults refusing to protect them. Mr. Speaker, I want to share some examples of what Minnesotans wrote: ``My students should not have to worry about being killed at school.'' ``I shouldn't have to worry about if my kids are safe at their school and daycare.'' ``My grandchildren go to school every day, and I worry they will be victims. I also am devastated they will live their school lives in fear.'' This is tragic. This is heartbreaking, and this is preventable. It doesn't have to be this way. We don't have to live like this. We could choose to take steps to make our children and our communities safer. We could create a world with far less gun violence, where people don't live in fear of it, if only Congress had the courage to act. ____________________

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NATIONAL GUN VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 95 (Thursday, June 4, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 95 (Thursday, June 4, 2026)] [House] [Pages H3837-H3838] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] NATIONAL GUN VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH (Ms. Morrison of Minnesota was recognized to address the House for 5 minutes.) [[Page H3838]] Ms. MORRISON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of June as National Gun Violence Awareness Month. As one Minnesotan wrote: ``I am standing up for our children because we are adults. It is our responsibility to make them feel safe.'' I have a stack of notes here from hundreds of Minnesotans who came together after the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic School, demanding action; calling for commonsense reforms; expressing their grief, anguish, and frustration; and begging for their elected leaders to do something--anything--to respond to the tragedy that left an 8- year-old and a 10-year-old dead, hundreds more forever traumatized, and a community reeling. What are we doing if we are not listening to the American people and not protecting our children? We need to listen to the American people. We need to act to keep our children safe. We need to ban assault weapons, bump stocks, and high-capacity magazine sales, get weapons of war off of our streets, invest in addressing our Nation's mental health crisis, and the list goes on. There won't be one policy alone that will end this public health crisis, but what we can't do is nothing. There are so many steps that we could take immediately. Gun violence is an epidemic that has stained our country, and we are going in the wrong direction. As our country faces hundreds of mass shootings every year, more mass shootings than any country on the face of the planet, the Trump administration is taking an ax to our Nation's gun safety laws and doing the dirty work of the big gun lobby, rolling back dozens of Federal safety regulations, making it easier for criminals to buy and ship guns, cutting funding, and abandoning critical gun violence prevention programs that keep our communities safe. They are doubling down on the number one killer of children in the United States of America. Gun violence is preventable. Our children deserve to be our priority. They deserve to feel safe. They deserve adults who will act. Every day we are here in Congress, we are creating the world that our children will inherit. We should be creating a world where children feel safe at school, where they can be healthy and thrive, not where they live in fear and see adults refusing to protect them. Mr. Speaker, I want to share some examples of what Minnesotans wrote: ``My students should not have to worry about being killed at school.'' ``I shouldn't have to worry about if my kids are safe at their school and daycare.'' ``My grandchildren go to school every day, and I worry they will be victims. I also am devastated they will live their school lives in fear.'' This is tragic. This is heartbreaking, and this is preventable. It doesn't have to be this way. We don't have to live like this. We could choose to take steps to make our children and our communities safer. We could create a world with far less gun violence, where people don't live in fear of it, if only Congress had the courage to act. ____________________