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Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New York, but more importantly, I thank her for anchoring tonight's message against gun violence.

Mr. Speaker, I come here tonight with a heavy heart. I don't have a written script, but I was so touched when I listened to Congresswoman Clarke's opening statement and then when my classmate and colleague, Congresswoman Robin Kelly, spoke.

I wanted to come tonight because I want everyone listening to us to know to ask the question, Mr. Speaker: Why are we lagging behind? To ask the question: When are we going to do more than one moment of silence when there has been an unnecessary shooting?

We do it when there is national attention. But what happens when that young person in their backyard, what happens when that person is killed by a gun in their home? All lives matter, Mr. Speaker.

So, tonight, our message is clear. Americans have asked us to do something. I had the opportunity to witness thousands and thousands and thousands of young folks who came together to March for Our Lives because this is their way of life, and they felt that they should do something, and they did.

And at the end of the program in the Third Congressional District, they looked to us as leaders and said: What are you going to do for us? What are you going to do about this?

So I thought about it, and I went to my office, and I thought maybe I can take all of these commonsense gun laws and roll it into a bill that is called the Safer America for Everybody Right Now Act.

It won't solve the entire problem, but this is what we are called to do. We are called to come here and try to make a difference. We come to this floor just tonight talking about saving lives, talking about how much we care for families. We run on a platform of caring about our children and family and saving lives, and, yet, we come here and can't get a piece of legislation put before the Congress to vote on it. Mr. Speaker, that is not right, and it is not fair, and the American public deserves more.

Lastly, let me just say, I can remember sitting in that church when nine innocent churchgoing lives were taken. I can remember going to Ferguson and being at the site where a young African American boy's life was taken with a gun. I can tell you about being with the mothers in the movement and the pain and the agony in their voices when they talked about the loss of their child.

I was here as a freshman with Sandy Hook, and you know, I was at the nightclub in Florida. What more does it take, Mr. Speaker, than us coming here tonight asking you to do more than sit in that chair; asking you to put fair legislation on this floor so we can vote on it? That is my ask tonight.

Please support some of the bipartisan legislation that we have. Please look at putting funds in for mental health. Just do something to help us have a safer America now.

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