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Senator Boxer: The slaughter of innocents must stop
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) spoke on the floor on the need to end gun violence and better protect our children following the tragic school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
Watch here:
Senator Boxer’s written statement (upon which she based her remarks):
I rise today to discuss the tragedy that I know has touched the heart and soul of America.
I will be very straight-forward in discussing my feelings today – feelings of a mother, feelings of a grandmother, feelings of a Senator whose state has been touched far too many times by mass shootings.
On July 1, 1993, a gunman with an assault weapon walked into a law office in San Francisco and killed 8 people and wounding another six. One of those people was a brave lawyer who threw his body over his wife, sacrificing his own life to save hers.
That young man was one of my son’s best friends and so I know without a shadow of a doubt how these horrific and senseless tragedies live on with the survivors forever – the parents, the spouses, the children, the families and friends. It changes their lives and pierces their psyches forever.
Yes, as human beings after these tragedies, we come together to find meaning and justice – and to find love in the middle of mayhem. Some find solace in their faith and their God. Some find solace in their community. And some find no solace at all.
The slaughter of innocents must stop.
I have spoken to many of my constituents. They are coming up to me and are begging me to act. Some own guns, some don’t. They want us to act and we must.
My heart is broken. Little babies gone – babies – barely on this earth. Loved, nurtured, taught, trusting. Trusting us. Looking up to us. They trusted us and we failed them.
We couldn’t even stop a sick person from getting a high-capacity clip. The gunman didn’t even have to reload his weapon until he fired 30 shots.
Brave law enforcement responded. But we had no law enforcement there to maybe – just maybe – prevent it before it started. And there was apparently no appointment that day with a mental health professional. Instead there was an appointment with death.
We must act and whoever criticizes me for saying that now, I say this: When is the right time?
In 2009, 31,347 people died from gun violence in our nation. That’s 87 people for every day of the year. Another 73,505 people were injured by firearms. So 87 people a day killed by gun violence in this country and this is not a good time speak out, I guess.
But I will talk about it now.
Here is what I think we must tackle – and we can do it without violating gun rights:
First, we must take weapons of war and high-capacity clips off our streets.
Second, we must ensure that local law enforcement is involved in reviewing conceal and carry permits.
Third, we must close the gun show loophole so background checks are conducted.
Fourth, we must keep all guns out of the hands of the mentally ill – and get them the help they need
And finally, we must keep our schools safe by utilizing all of the law enforcement tools at our disposal.
We have failed our children.
Since the Columbine school shooting in 1999, 203 students and teachers have been killed and 175 students, teachers and others have been wounded due to gun violence at our schools.
We have to stop worrying about our political skins. There is more to life than that. There are judgments that will be made about us while we are here and after we are gone.
Let us pull together and show our children we love them and we will protect them by taking clear and common sense steps together.
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8 Responses to Senator Boxer: The slaughter of innocents must stop
Reynardine
Dec. 18th, 2012 at 10:05 pm
I hope to crap this isn’t blown off as female sentimentality (rough day).
mike mccormack
Dec. 18th, 2012 at 10:55 pm
A truly horrible event played out in New Town, CT a couple of days ago. How could anyone invade a grade school and murder 6-7 year old babies and the sainted teachers who tried to protect them? The sad thing is there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to prevent or assure this will never happen again. It’s true, events like this have happened before, think WW II Concentration Camps where entire families were murdered. Then the was Laos after the Viet Nam War; Soviet Union during virtually it’s entire existence; England’s unimaginable and murderous cruelty in Ireland, Scotland and Whales; the U.S. in dealing with Native American’s and vice versa. The point is, evil people do evil things and the only defense we have is to be prepared if and when they show up at our door, our schools, our town, our country.
The legions of politicians, TV Talking Heads, Hollywood types and so called Celebrities are calling for more gun laws “to keep this from ever happening again”. Sadly, with well over 20,000 laws relating to firearms it happened again, another law or series of laws will not prevent this happening again. We don’t have even a chance of prevention until the laws are enforced! Should we, God forbid, enforce the laws we already have no more are necessary and if we do not more shall not help one iota.
What is conveniently overlooked is that laws, old and new, are only obeyed by those who are already law abiding. How many ways can it be legislated and stated that killing other people is terribly unacceptable behavior? New, more restrictive laws only affect the law abiding, murderous sociopaths don’t step up and turn in their weapons, on the contrary, they relish more laws restricting the law abiding citizen access to weapons, and it makes their murder sprees so much easier. Think for a moment about how this terrible attack may have turned out if the person in the front office had a shotgun under the desk (and yes, they need training, but it is not rocket science, a…
Paws
Dec. 19th, 2012 at 7:08 am
Mike,
The suggestions made by Sen. Boxer are reasonable. They do nothing – nothing – to infringe on the right of responsible gun owners to have a weapon for their protection or to have rifles for hunting. None of that will go away; our 2nd Amendment assures that. Though some may say the President is trying to “take away our 2nd Amendment rights,” the truth is, nothing of the sort can happen. You’d have to repeal the amendment itself and that is a monumental undertaking that assumes the required number of people would vote for it (and let’s face it, our Congress can’t even get together to decide what to order for lunch much less to repeal an amendment). Even if they somehow managed to repeal it, the Supreme Court would rule against it.
You say we should enforce the laws we have and I agree – up to a point. People can buy all kinds of weapons at gun shows with no background check. People can buy ammunition magazines that, like Boxer noted, let someone fire 30 rounds without reloading. Why can we not have laws that require a background check? That gets these magazine clips out of the hands of non-military people? Why can’t we ban assault weapons again?
We can’t enforce laws if they’re not on the books. So let’s get them on the books and let’s enforce them, as you say. But to enforce a law, there must BE a law and currently there is not. None of these suggestions would infringe on YOUR rights unless, of course, you buy weapons with no background check; or purchase high round magazine clips; or have assault weapons.
This isn’t an “us vs. them” situation. We may not stop every act of violence, in fact we won’t, but we sure as heck do not have to make it easy for people to go on rampages like this.
There must be a balance.
Anne
Dec. 19th, 2012 at 8:21 am
Laws are important and necessary, but they also have to be accompanied by sound judgment and common sense among all gun owners. Adam Lanza’s mother had to know he was mentally unstable, but she still failed to secure her guns so that they would have been out of his reach or sight. Not being a gun owner myself, I still think that formal training for gun safety is a great idea. Then there is the problem of unlicensed gun dealers. It makes no sense, because people have to have licenses to provide everyday goods and services that are non-lethal. It’s also important to have extensive background checks for prospective gun buyers, regardless of their socioeconomic standing or whether they live in urban or rural areas. Mental stability is just as important as the absence of a criminal record.
It’s a safe bet that not all gun violence would be eliminated, but could be greatly reduced. It makes no sense to be the only industrialized nation with such a high incidence of gun-related carnage.
Reynardine
Dec. 19th, 2012 at 4:11 pm
The Prince of Wales is Charles Windsor. The Prince of Whales is either Moby Dick or Newt Gingrich. Plez lurn to reed an spel gud.
Reynardine
Dec. 19th, 2012 at 9:04 am
I’d like to say this to every man out there: you used to be a kid. And some day, you might have kids, or anyway, nieces and nephews. So I’d like to put you through an exercise.
Picture yourself kid size, again. Picture yourself kid-naïve. Picture yourself in grade school, back with your first-grade teacher, or your second, or your third. Maybe the window is open, to the sounds of Spring or Fall. Maybe not. Maybe what you see is iron November, or winter’s peace. In any case, picture it: what was on the walls, the chalkboard, the teacher you had then, the companions you liked to play with, the others you didn’t like at all. The clock on the wall, maybe idle thoughts of the bell for recess, or lunch, or going home.
And then the door bursts open, and it’s not the principal. The guy is masked, and in his hands he has…
Your chances of surviving until the police can come are going to depend on what he has in his hands. Does he have to cock it, does he have to reload it, or is it ratatat tat, without stopping? Because if it’s ratatat tat, there isn’t the slightest chance you’ll even get to hide under your desk. Maybe you’ll live just long enough to see the top of Bobby’s head come off and his brains blow your way, or Carol Ann lurch as her intestines begin to come out the gaping hole in her middle, or Louise with jutting, white ribs where her heart and lungs used to be. Maybe the teacher has time to make some futile gesture of protection before her eyes are shot out and her face disappears. But in a couple of seconds, it’s your turn, too. Maybe, before you expire, you’ll see the perp dart out the hall, and some other where, in some other class, you’ll hear it again.
Ratatat tat…
rick
Dec. 19th, 2012 at 10:27 am
According to the headline I thought she was talking about abortion.
Reynardine
Dec. 20th, 2012 at 10:46 am
That is because you’re a trivial, monomaniacal piece of shit.