Capital Gazette Shooting

Floor Speech

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Ms. ELFRETH. Mr. Speaker, 7 years ago, on June 28, 2018, a gunman who should never have been able to purchase a firearm, walked into the Capital Gazette and killed five members of our hometown newspaper: Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith, and Wendi Winters.

Amid the shock and horror, just hours after the shooting, the Capital issued a simple statement: We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow, and that they did.

These journalists made clear that the fourth estate cannot be silenced, and they made Maryland damn proud.

On this tragic anniversary, I will make it clear on this House floor that as elected officials, we were not sent here to look away, to give up, or to offer our thoughts and prayers alone. That is why I rise today to remember the journalists we lost, to continue the fight for full freedom of the press, and for commonsense gun safety legislation that protects all of our communities.

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