Gun Violence

Floor Speech

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Mr. MURPHY. Madam President, over the course of the last year and a half, I have come down to the floor fairly regularly to tell some simple stories about victims of gun violence all across the country. The idea is that if the overwhelming data of those killed through gun violence--31,000 a year; 2,600 a month; 86 a day--if these mind-numbing numbers don't move this body to action, then maybe the voices of the victims, the stories of the victims of gun violence may eventually thaw the ice of this Congress and cause us to act in some way, shape or form to reduce this scourge of gun violence--whether it be tightening the Nation's gun laws, which are the loosest in the world, whether it be to pass mental health legislation that will address those who are wrestling with demons manifested eventually in gun homicides or whether it be giving more resources to gun enforcement to simply enforce the laws on the books. We have done nothing. We have done nothing since the murders of Sandy Hook, CT, to address this epidemic of gun violence. It is about time that we do.

On New Year's Eve, I spent most of that day tweeting out the 370-plus instances of mass shootings over the course of 2015. Think about that for a second. There were more mass shootings in 2015 then there were days in the year. Just to be honest, I will tell you what I believe to be a mass shooting. I am talking about a shooting in which there were more than four people shot. If there were more than four people shot in your neighborhood, that would probably be something you would be talking about, that would probably rise to the level of being something serious enough to change behavior or to call for a change in policy. There were 370 instances in 2015 where more than 4 people were shot at one given time--more than one per day. So I tweeted out to every single one of them on the day before the year turned to 2016 just to give people a sense all in one place of how big this problem of mass shootings is. Of course, that is only the tip of the iceberg.

If on the average day there are 4, 5, 6 or 7 people being shot in episodes of mass violence, there are another 80 that are killed through other episodes of gun violence. Many of those are suicides, but many of those are just the day-to-day gun violence incidents that happen across this country, most of which happen in our cities.

So I want to share a few of those stories here with you today.

A lot of attention gets paid to those who die in episodes of mass violence. This is a binder that is basically full of the stories of the individuals who were killed in mass shootings over the past couple of years. This doesn't even begin to account for the individuals who are killed every day on the streets of Chicago and New Haven and Los Angeles and New Orleans, people such as Jonathan Aranda, who was 19 years old when he was killed just before Christmas of 2015. He was killed in the morning hours of December 8. He had just graduated from Eli Whitney Technical High School, which is located in Hamden, CT.

His cousin said:

He was getting out of work, stopped at a friend's house to talk about cars and this senseless act of violence happened. He was quick to lend a hand when you needed help without asking for anything in return. He worked a third shift job to come home, rest and help at home.

His younger sister, Genisis, said that her brother was ``a humble and loving person, he was a person who never picked fights. He was quick to lend a hand when you needed help without asking for anything in return.''

Jonathan's cousin Edgar said he was a ``very, very likeable kid. . . . He didn't have a problem with anybody.''

The community has been devastated by this loss. He was liked by everybody. He cared deeply for his family. Jonathan was 19 years old when he was killed after stopping at a friend's house--after getting off of work--to talk about cars.

Treesa Wiley was killed just a few days ago in Rockford, IL. She was fatally shot while she was visiting a friend in her home. An unknown person forced entry into the home and shot Wiley and her friend. She lived paycheck to paycheck, but she was still immensely generous with her friends and family, showering them with love, attention, and gifts.

Her uncle said of Treesa:

She didn't have children herself, but every child that she met was her child. That's why she enjoyed that work so much. She enjoyed giving back to the community because it had given her so much.''

Her friends described her as ``bubbly,'' ``angelic,'' and ``lovable.'' Her favorite color was purple. Her favorite team was the Green Bay Packers. She loved red lipstick. She had overcome a learning disability to get a 2-year degree. She was killed while she was studying to get her bachelor's degree.

A friend said:

She was the most loving and honest friend you could hope for. . . . I can't think of one person who didn't like Treesa.

Raven White was 16 years old when about a month ago she was killed in Birmingham, AL. She was fatally shot in her car in the early morning hours of January 8. It looks as if it was a robbery. She was a junior in high school, and she was 6 months pregnant.

Her mother said Raven was very outgoing.

I know she loved school. Even after getting pregnant, she made good grades and didn't miss a day of school.

She was planning to go back to the volleyball team that she played on after giving birth. She had just gotten off work at Walmart hours before the shooting. ``All I want is to hold my grandbaby once, but I can't,'' said Raven's mother, Tangee Dixon.

Miguel Arguelles was 22 when he was killed in Bridgeport, CT. He was shot in the neck and the shoulder during a shooting at the Charles F. Greene Homes housing complex. Police say he wasn't a target, but he was hit by stray bullets. He was 22 years old. At the hospital, Miguel's mother pounded his chest, urging him to come back to life, saying: ``Mommy's here. C'mon, baby, c'mon, baby. Mommy's here.''

A veteran officer said the nurses were crying, the priest was crying, and even the police were crying while watching this.

It was one of the saddest things I've seen. You feel so helpless.

His mother said he lit up the room when he walked in.

You saw his teeth every time he smiled--he brought a smile to your face. . . . I just want to hug him. I just want to tell him I love him.

``He was my protector,'' said his sister. ``He loved to make people laugh.''

Jabari Saunders was 30 when he was killed in December of 2015 in Wilmington. He was shot on the very same street on which he used to walk his children to school every morning. He was a devoted father of four. His life revolved around his kids. The neighbors said the only time they would see him is with his kids. He was always smiling. It is sad. You can't even let your kids walk to school--walk to afterschool stuff now.

When a neighbor's son was shot, irony of all ironies, the victim's mother recalls that Jabari visited her home every single day the week after the shooting.

He just came to pay respect. . . . I know the love he showed me when my son was killed.

Another neighbor said:

I can't say anything bad about him. He was just a nice guy.

That is 5 stories out of 2,600 a month. There is no antidote to this epidemic. There is no one law that we can pass that makes it all better, that makes this all go away. But that can't be the excuse. The excuse cannot be that because there is no panacea legislatively, we shouldn't even try. The excuse can't be that because it is impossible to erase gun violence, we shouldn't take some commonsense steps to make it all better. The excuse also can't be that laws don't make a difference, because they do.

I will leave you with this because my point really is to tell the stories of these victims, not to expound on the data, but the data is pretty irrefutable. Here are all the States where background checks are required in order to buy a gun through a private gun sale. That is a purchase at a gun store or a purchase at a gun show. Here are all the States with no additional background check laws besides the Federal floor. The data is pretty irrefutable. On average, there is 1 additional death per 100,000 in the States with no additional background check laws than there are in the States that have additional background check laws. It is a 30-some-odd percent increase for the States that don't take extra steps to make sure criminals don't get guns.

So when people say that we shouldn't pass a background check law that 90 percent of the American public support because it won't make a difference, the data doesn't tell us that. The data actually tells us that if we take steps to make sure criminals don't get guns, fewer criminals will get guns and fewer people will be killed, because I will assure you that one of these five people whom I just listed was killed with a gun that was purchased legally. It might have been purchased in a gun show, put in the back of a van, and sold on the streets of Wilmington, Bridgeport, or New Haven.

Laws won't save all 31,000 of these lives, but they certainly will save a handful. And for the individuals, the nurses, the clergy, and the police officers who witnessed Miguel Arguelles's mother pressing on his heart trying to get him to come back to life--simply one less death would make a debate on the Senate floor worth it.

I hope that we take some steps this year, perhaps, to pass a mental health reform bill. I hope we get to where 9 out of 10 of our constituents are and pass legislation that keeps guns out of the hands of criminals. If we don't do it because of the statistics, maybe we will do it because we will start to hear the real voices of these victims.

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