exploring the people that help the american story. at 2 p.m. eastern, a conversation on ulysses s grant, with retired general david petraeus. at 8:00 p.m. eastern, a university of alabama professor, on the reconstruction era south, the causes for the civil war, as well as the legacy of confederate statues. watch american history tv, saturdays on c-span 2, and watch online anytime at c-span.org/history. announcer: democratic lawmakers including senator chris murphy, are crafting bipartisan legislation to address gun violence in the wake of mass shootings in buffalo, and

uvalde. activists also spoke at the conference. this runs just over an hour. [cheering] [cheering]

>> thank you for coming today. i'm a student and volunteer from texas. i come to you today on something this devastating. the shooting uvalde and buffalo last week, personal to me in more than one way. i was not shocked what happened tuesday. gun violence made me fear, i fear losing a loved one, i fear being the loved one lost. i fear for my family, my friends, i fear for the lot next community. i fear for every committee and every student in this country, i fear for every person living in this nation.

we need to realize this pattern keeps repeating itself. every day my friends and i live with the fear being gunned down. not just in schools but our communities. headlines are endless and knowing there's so much more about making the headlines is gut wrenching. i can't even tell you when the first active shooter drill was for the first time i felt unsafe in the world. why is this? are we forced to grow up this way? today we are standing up and speaking out. enough is enough. [cheering] we need more. we demand action from our lawmakers.

do not lose hope, be filled with hope because people like you and your actions make a change. the culture is shifting narrative is changing. empowerment through action, let's learn together and fight together because we can and will demand action for change. today i'm here to be proud to be in front of the capitol demanding action and across the country my fellow students and volunteers are demanding action at home. they are getting ready to walk out of the classrooms, gun violence against children and teens. students from california, texas, vermont are walking out today. walking out in the middle of class, lunch and more because we know there's nothing more important than standing up for our lives. this walkout isn't about politics, it's not about blue versus red, we don't care about that, it's trying to make sure when we walk in school, we can expect to walk out that day and

right now we cannot say that. that's disgusting. i am people we are joined by champions in the senate who actually care about me, who care about us. i'm grateful to the other speakers, survivors and kids here today and millions of others doing this work across the country. we are in this together and we will win. we cannot allow for this violence to be normal. students are doing their part right now and demanding lawmakers and adults do the same. with that, i will start with programs and pass it to our speaker. [cheering] >> thank you. we are here today because we are devastated. we are angry and want our

senators to do their jobs. [cheering] [cheering] we are also here to honor victims and survivors of gun violence with action. i know we are frustrated, but now is not the time to lose energy for hope. now is the time to use our voices and collective power because what other choice do we have? that is why we are here today. our 8 million supporters across the country are demanding to know, how many more children, mothers, fathers, teachers and neighbors have today before the

senate acts? [cheering] we are begging elected officials to do something, anything to address america's gun violence crisis. they have enabled this, they are enabling gun violence with their inaction. [cheering] we know how to stop this, we know how to keep people safe while they are grocery shopping, while in school, while they are worshiping so we ask our senators, who do you work for? [cheering] do you work for the 90% of americans who support common sense gun safety laws work do you work for gun manufacturers who had your pockets and protect your power while over 110

americans are shot and killed every day? take a look at the sea of red shirts, we are growing stronger every day and we are not going anywhere. [cheering] if i've learned anything from the courageous gun violence survivors who show up and do the work every single day, it is this, we will win the fight because parents fighting to keep the kids safe will always out organize, out work and outvote gun lobby executives fighting for their profits. we will never give up. [cheering] in it gives me great hope that we have such strong gun champions standing with us today and it's my honor to introduce

our friend and partner in this fight senator chris murphy. [cheering] >> thank you, shannon. we are not going to allow this to become the new normal. we are not prepared to allow our schools to continue as killing fields. we are not prepared to allow the gun lobby and gun industry to continue to run this town and this place. we are never ever going to give up until we make our schools, our shopping malls, the streets of this country a safe place to live and work. we are never ever giving up until we win this fight.

[cheering] and this is a choice, it's not inevitable, it's not interchangeable. we are the only country in the world in which our kids go to school wondering whether they will survive the day. my fourth grader yesterday had to have conversations all day of school with his classmates that no child, no 10-year-old should have to have an he's forced to have those conversations with his friends about where they will hide, where they will run because of decisions made at this place and we are going to change those decisions. [cheering] we are going to do two things.

first, we are going to extend a hand of partnership to those sitting on the sidelines, to those who have chosen the side of the gun lobby and offer them a seat at the table. today we will be engaged in bipartisan to find a path forward to make streets safer, to make our schools safer and our goal and hope and belief is we can find common ground and be facilitated in finding common ground by a popular uprising of citizens. [cheering] who make clear if you don't do the right thing here you aren't coming back here. [cheering] but if we don't succeed, we are putting people on the record.

one way or another, we are going to have a debate, force people to tell america which side they are on so we are going to work our tails off to get that but we are not going away, not staying silent and let me say this before i turn it over, i know this is a moment where people feel, i know folks feel a moment of a shop you will be have been here over and over. my friends from sandy hook, i don't know how they get up every day and go back to work but what i also know is a great social change movement in this country, the ones you read about in history, they don't succeed in a year or two, they often take time, sometimes a decade or more, sometimes they are met

with huge obstacles, setbacks but they are so confident in the righteousness of their cause, so confident the status quo will finally break that they never give up and we are never ever giving up. thank you. [cheering] [inaudible] [cheering] >> thank you senator murphy. [cheering] and now i would like to produce senator murphy's colleague from connecticut, senator blumenthal. [cheering] >> thank you, thank you. to the american people, this is what a political movement looks like.

[cheering] this is what civil rights movement looks like. what we see here is america rising up and saying enough is enough. [cheering] [cheering] enough is enough! [cheering] >> i want to thank the leaders who are here, my colleagues but most importantly, every town, what we are seeing grassroots organizing, doing the work in the trenches to hold colleagues accountable. let me be very blunt, gun violence prevention has gone beyond the ballot this november, it will be on the ballot this november and we need to make it

a decisive issue, a decisive issue and we will vote them out if they failed to vote the right way. i want to say a word to the families of uvalde because senator murphy and i were at sandy hook that devastating afternoon almost ten years ago when parents learned their children would not be coming home that day and it leaves a hole in people's heart, it rips apart a community and every one of these shootings, the massacres that goes to the headlines, it is devastating for those people and they will never fully recover the sandy hook families have shown strength and

courage to come year after year after year and i am in all the courage and strength of the survivors who have been the wind beneath our wings to fight this battle and we owe them so much thanks and i think them. [cheering] but we know what we have to do. there are a lot of mysteries in this world, scientific questions difficult to discern, we know what can save lives. background checks can save lives, universal background checks and i want to thank my colleague chris murphy for championing background checks, universal background checks, we need that.

and red flag statutes, i wrote a red flag statutes with my colleague, senator graham right after parkland more than three years ago, there's no mystery about taking away a firearm, a weapon from someone who shows they are dangerous to themselves or others, someone who says i'm going to kill people or i'm going to kill myself, a red flag statutes is imperative and we have the language in the draft, there's no mystery here and i want to see a vote on the floor of the united states senate on background checks and red flag statute. [applause] the women in this country who are survivors of domestic violence are five times more likely to be killed when there

is a gun in the house. i want to seek protection for domestic violence survivors like lori jackson of connecticut who perished from estranged husband. innocent children everyday in their own home with guns left unsecured, left out in the open everyday, kids are shot by quote unquote, accidents. that's no accident, we need a safe storage law, even l >> ghost guns are one of the biggest emerging threats. law enforcement says they are used to intimidate police at the local and state level. ghost guns are untraceable, they are mostly crime guns.

we need a law that bans ghost guns, not just a presidential executive order. [applause] so, i want to see the first two votes on background checks and a red flag statute, and they want to see where my colleagues stand, and everyone of them will be held accountable. so, we have a lot of work to do. we have a lot of work to do. and i want to say a word to the gun lobby. your days are numbered. you are on the wrong side of history, and you will see your power broken simply because you

have overreached. you no longer represent gun owners, you no longer represent even your members, you no longer represent the public interest. you are a danger to society, and to america, if you continue to oppose these commonsense measures, and breaking the grip of a bankrupt lobby that seeks to intimidate and threaten my colleagues, is part of what we need to do. and we will win. not only, we won't back down, we won't back down, we are not going away, but we will win this fight because we have you on our side. thank you for being here. [applause] >> thank you senator blumenthal.

now i want to introduce a long time gun since champion massachusetts, senator ed markey. [applause] >> thank you so much. thank you to every town, thank you to moms who demand action, thank you to every activist. an army of activists that has risen up across our country, to fight the nra, to fight the republican party, the republican party is within a vise-like grip of the nra. they do whatever the nra tells them that they should do. what the american people want is for nra to stand for not relevant anymore in american

politics. they want the republicans work in this building to finally have the courage to stand up to the nra.

through worry they were there lovely will be killed, this is the moment where we have to ensure republican party which opposes background checks, opposes red flag laws, which opposes the simplest protection to ensure those should not have guns in our society do not get access to them. then what do we here? we hear the red herring that there are mental health issues here that have to be dealt with, that is the underlying cause. every industrialized countries

as all citizens with mental health issues but they do not have an epidemic of gun violence in their countries. [cheering] difference between the united states and other countries in the world, those who want to do harm to their neighbors have access to weapons of mass destruction that only belong on the battlefield of the world and not the streets of the united states. [cheering] the senators here all have an f rating from the nra. [cheering] the legislatures who have to answer to the american people all have in a as a grade from

the nra. history tells us the republican party will hope over the next ten or 12 days this movement will die down and the issue will go away. [cheering] well, i say to my republicans, colleagues, this time is different, this time the american people understand they have to ensure on the ballot this november gun safety is on the ballot and if you do not change your mind, the american people are going to change you as a representative in the united states congress. [cheering]

and finally let me say, we ought to take very seriously the threat which an illegitimate far right supreme court poses gun safety in our country. [cheering] we have to expand the supreme court to get back stolen seat republicans and donald trump took from the american people so we can ensure when we put gun safety laws on the books they are not overridden by the supreme court of the united states. [cheering] this is the time, this is the place, these are the people about to change our country once and for all in our relationship with gun lobby in our country, thank you for all that you are about to do. [cheering and applauding] >> thank you, senator. i would like to introduce

another grand champion, my senator from the state of california, senator alex padilla. [cheering] >> thank you, shannon, thank you everybody here. thank you for your passion, thank you for your advocacy, thank you for your activism. we will win. [cheering] i am senator alex padilla from california and i am here to do my job, we are going to vote on these measures and we are not going to give up, common sense gun safety legislation. our hearts go out to the people in southern california, the people in buffalo new york and more recently and of course to the parents, coworkers of the 19 students and two teachers from

uvalde texas this week. we offer our condolences. ... i'm here is a u.s. senator and also here's a father. like senator murphy we have school-age children. my two youngest are the same age that could have been in a classroom in texas so yes this is personal. the question here this morning is for senate republican colleagues. how is this acceptable?

how are you not outraged? we are outraged. and no, putting more armed adults in schools is not the answer. if more guns was the answer the united states of america would be the safest nation in the world. that it's not. it's the only country where students go to school fearing for their safety. it's the only country where people wonder about their safety going to a house of worship. it's the only country in the world were people wonder if it's safe to go to the grocery store or the shopping mall. more guns is not the answer. we know the answer. you have heard it. assault weapons ban. get rid of large capacity

magazines. red flag laws and more. we need to bring this legislation to a vote and hold every member of the senate accountable because i refuse to sit idly by and watch our children die in schools and in our communities. [applause] you're about to find out would have what it means to be a senator from california. [speaking spanish] [speaking spanish]

[speaking spanish] [speaking spanish] [speaking spanish]

thank you very, very much. [applause] nick thank you senator padilla. now i'd like to introduce rhode island u.s. senator senator sheldon whitehouse. [applause] >> thank you also much for being here and thank you to moms and every town, thank you to students demand action. thank you to senators murphy and blumenthal for their passionate work in this effort after the catastrophe at sandy hook. it is not enough to end the gore and the carnage in america, we need to fight for an america where you don't have to have active shooter drills in

schools. and a lot of us are here fed up, angry, frustrated and one of the things that frustrate us is the wave of our passion, the waves of our grief and the waves of fire anger is the shootings take place over and over again those waves break against iraq of the national rifle association political dominion over the republican party. we have to break that grip. we have to have the long game the way they have a long game. when passions are subsided the nra is still out there relentlessly building a political wall for our passions

to break again and we have to take them on and do that back. one of the tools that they use is dark political money and if we get rid of dark political money we will take away some of the power of the nra and while we are at it right away the dark political money is at that port right there. it is dark with a money >> is paying for voter suppression against minority voters all around the country. it is dark political money that is behind climate denial and obstruction of this crisis. there is a common theme behind so much of our frustration and incapacity and that is that the other side as weaponized dark money so that our schools need to be de-weaponized. i'm with you all the way so

let's keep our eye on that long game and let's disable and disarm the friday lent dark money operations that oppose us. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> thank you senator. now i'm honored to introduce the u.s. senator from minnesota senator amy klobuchar. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, thank you so much to moms demand action. students demand action. thank you for standing with us for gun safety and to protect the people of this country. that is what what this is about an end. we are once again here in the wake of a tragedy. we are here because of 21 empty

beds in uvalde texas and here because of 10 empty chairs at the dinner table in buffalo. we are here because we lost more than 2900 people in this country en masse shootings just since sandy hook and we say today enough is enough. [chanting] enough is enough. enough is enough. >> would the look at the pictures of his kids from robb elementary it shatters you. the first communion dress, the glasses, the smiles. in some photos they were holding awards that they had just one that morning. that is how immediate and how real this is and the reason this is called every town is because

it happens in every town. it happens in florida, it happens in connecticut, it happens in texas, it happened to minnesota and we have asked our colleagues over and over again to reach deep into their hearts and to do what is right and i'm so appreciative that our colleague senator murphy and others are going to continue to work over the next 10 days in an agreement with republicans. that's a good thing. they are willing to work. we never will get anything done if we don't try. you always hope every single time there'll be a change in our hearts. if there's in a change in their hearts then we will vote and we will vote when we come back and we will march all the way to the ballot talks and vote because in the end you know the numbers and

believe me the republican party is looking at the numbers just like we are, the numbers of background checks, 80 to 90% of the public is with us. what is wrong over there in that building? that's what i said when i went over to the house after -- i was in a small group of senators democrats and republicans that met with the former president president jump after parkland and on a piece of paper and they still have it at home i wrote down how many times he said he was for universal background checks. he said it then. he said it wants, he said it twice, he said it three times that in the end nine hashmarks or he said it nine times and then do you know what happened the next day? he went and he met with the nra had changed his mind. this election year we are not going to tolerate people saying

they changed their minds not when we have 21 empty beds in the state of texas. i come from a proud hunting state. we have a lot of hunters in our state and i can tell you right now my uncle does not need an ak-47. in any rational person, any rational person that looks at this they look at this and say how come an 18-year-old can go out there and buy that type of gun? how can i buy an assault weapon? that's why we have red flag laws in closing the boyfriend law that is my builder got 40 republican bills in the house and got cut out of the united states senate because the republicans in the senate wouldn't let it be part of the domestic violence bill. enough of this. we are standing up for domestic violence offenders. it never ends so no, 18-year-old

should not be getting assault weapons and we will take that to the public next week. this next week will be a referendum on sensible gun laws. we will see if they come back from hearing from the people in their districts and in their state and they come back and join us on commonsense gun safety legislation. that's the pressure point and as you see more those pictures of those kids in their communion dresses in their baseball uniforms every single time i want you all to think that 18-year-old didn't have to go out and get an assault weapon. this is completely preventable so let's get to work and when we get back if they don't join us we march to this very spot. thank you. [cheers and applause]

[chanting] vote them out. vote them out. vote them out. >> thank you senator klobuchar. i'd like to introduce congresswoman lisa rochester. [applause] >> i wasn't even scheduled to be here. i am not a senator. i'm a member of the house of representatives. we did our work. and we still have work to do. i wasn't supposed to be here. i was called here for a meeting. i took a train and i wore orange today.

not knowing what was going to take place. i'm a member of the congressional caucus and so for us our hearts are with the families. we also know that in addition to these mass shootings that are happening all too frequently every day every hour in our communities and their neighborhoods people are being shot. yes, right here in d.c.. i hear you. so today i'm here to stand in solidarity because not only am i a member of the house, not only am i a member of the congressional black caucus i'm a mom who is demanding action. [cheers and applause] so anything that has already been on said my message, my message is just this.

it's all been said about voting and the courts. i want people to know we do this because we love our children. we love our seniors and we love our community members. we love our country and that love is more powerful, more powerful than hate. get in some good trouble. [cheers and applause] >> that was powerful. now i'm honored to introduce u.s. senator from new york senator kirsten gillibrand. [cheers and applause] >> thank you offer rallying in front of the capitol.

it really matters. this has been the moment of fear and anger and tears and fury. it is crippling and infuriating but the lack of action by people who hold all the power. it is a disgrace in this country that congress cannot, cannot overcome the greed and corruption of the gun lobby. it's an outrage that they cannot stand up to the nra and want to give weapons at any time to anyone for any reason. it is an outrage and in two weeks to 18-year-old man can walk into a store and buy a military style weapons when they cannot walk into a store and buy cigarettes. it is an outrage, an outrage

that an 18-year-old man can buy a military style weapon when our military trains our servicemembers for years on how to properly, properly use them. to drive the car you have to train could you have to get a license. we have so many requirements on 18-year-old's but not on the ability to buy a military style weapon that is designed only to kill large numbers of people quickly in a moment of war. they should not be allowed to buy these weapons period because an 18-year-old cannot go and buy a tank. in 18-year-old cannot buy a missile. an 18-year-old cannot even rent a car but he's allowed to buy a military style weapon that is designed to kill large numbers of people very quickly.

no one should be allowed to buy military style weapons in the civilian world period. [cheers and applause] so community after community in this country have suffered, have suffered so dearly. i was in buffalo with president biden where he came to these families to talk to these families and i've met the 3-year-old whose father went to the grocery store just to buy him a birthday cake who lost his life doing that simple fatherly thing. it's just a moment of rage and fury and anger but you must motivate yourselves and take all that scary and channel it to the next election.

everything changes when we change who is in power. everything changes when we have people who will stand with us. everything changes when we have the rule of law supporting us so fight, fight for this election like your life depends upon it because it truly does. [chanting] vote them out. vote them out. >> now going to turn it back to my colleague. [applause] >> hi everyone. i want to thank everyone again for being here and speaking out and i'm proud to our action committee fund president. >> first of all i want to thank moms demand action, students

demand action. i will be honest we are late. i was shot in april of 2013 and the bullet that hit me to ask the -- six months of recovery and after my first surgery i looked down at my mutilated leg and i looked up at the television and i heard the senate making excuses about why they couldn't pass the background check bill. since then a million people, a million people have been shot or killed by gun violence. since then our economy has lost $2.8 billion to gun violence. we are late. and those million people are not numbers. one was my neighbor who got shot playing at the age of 10. michalak will send who was shot

getting ice cream. rob around who was shot selling water bottles who held his own peace rally to stop the gun violence two weeks before he was shot. matt massie wrote an article in buffalo about ending gun violence shot and killed by supremacists. roberto who is leaving behind her young daughter. i was at the vigil in buffalo. her daughter was holding flowers too young to even know what was happening. trying to cheer up or family member smiling and joking he didn't even realize her mother was stolen from her. where's the action for that mother? where is the action? [applause] we are late. congress is late. people are dying.

today people are burying their grandmothers in buffalo. mothers and uvalde are trying to figure out how they are going to bury their children. children and we are trying to figure out when it's the right time. we are late. the time is now. [chanting] the time is now. the time is now. the time is now. >> we go the conversation this morning and i'm sure all of you of heard about the timing, the timing we have to get the timing right, the timing right. the american people do not leave the senators are going to do anything about this. they don't believe congress is going to do anything about this. the people in buffalo are

looking for food to eat and they don't leave the government is coming to save them. so we have to fight. he has given us 10 days, 10 days to stand up for the people of buffalo. 10 days to stand up for the families in uvalde. 10 days to deal with the 212 mass shootings that happened this year. 10 days to heal the 100,000 people better shot and killed every day. 10 days to deal with the increase in homicides since 2019. 10 days to deal with the number one cause of death for youth. 10 days to deal with a number of cause of death for black men, 10 days. [chanting] do your job. do your job.

do your job. >> i don't know about you all but i work hard every day. everyone here works hard. the camera people here work hard, the janitors here the janitors here work hard, security works hard. and if we show up to work late what happens? we are out. we are out. they have got 10 days and if they don't take action guess what? they are out. vote them out! thank you. [chanting] vote them out. vote them out. b thanks a lot. that was very powerful. >> thank you and i want to thank

all the senators and representatives who are on our side supporting gun violence prevention. i wish i wasn't here and wasn't here and i wish you didn't have to talk about the worst day of my life. i wish you didn't know the emotions and feelings that those kids are going through right now. as a survivor of a mass shooting in 2018 at marjorie stoneman douglas high school in florida i know the reality that those students are suffering through right now. i'm also lipid. whether it's inside a classroom or outside in the neighborhoods more and more children are dying because of gun violence. gun violence is the number one cause of death for children in the united states. shame on the people who watched my friends and classmates died at marjory stoneman douglas and continue not to act. shame on the lawmakers who now

have tighter connections to the gun lobby than ever before. shame on them. they are not representing the future. more than 90% of americans support background checks that these representatives are deciding to put politics over children and the people they represent. to the lawmakers who will not listen at least listen to your colleagues. please do not leave and if you think your community is invincible from personal experience i know it's not. the shootings can happen anywhere. as long as we continue to let people with guns without background checks. we will not be denied action this time. we will continue fighting like because this is life or death for our generation. thank you. [applause]

>> thank you for that. now we will hear from a survivor. [applause] >> to be honest i didn't think i was going to come today. everything about the shooting at robb elementary reminds me of the day might -- was murdered at sandy hook. when i heard about the shooting on tuesday i told myself i would step back and processed this. i want to step away and not deal with the publicly. i did that for about five

minutes. i literally heard my mom's voice in my head saying i can't sit this one out. i knew that is when i needed to have my voice heard. enough is enough and it the time to act is now. the time to act was 10 years ago when my mom was gunned down in the hall hall of an elementary school. [applause] or remember the day my mother was murdered like it was yesterday. when i found that there was a shooting at her school i knew there was no way she wouldn't protect her students and faculty no matter what, no matter what the cost. i knew those kids and colleagues meant absolutely everything to her and i felt a deep down as soon as the news broke. many of the families in texas today in buffalo last week tomorrow next year, 10 years

from now are feeling this unimaginable loss that only people of gun violence can understand. i know nothing can ever be done to bring my mother back. i sure as can honor her with a action. that is why i got out of bed and that's why i am here today. how many more kids and educators need to die in our schools before lawmakers at? how many people need to continue to die while grocery shopping while taking a birthday cakes for their 3-year-old or walking down their city street. we deserve to learn and live without the fear of being shot to death. thanks to where we gun laws in the gun lobby's relentless agenda nowhere is safe and no one is immune. we must take action now.

i hate that i have to be here today because it means others have been stolen from their families and their lives taken by this incredibly preventable public health crisis. i feel grateful to be here with so many allies and my fellow survivors. my heart goes out to you. i refuse to let my mother's death be just another statistic and i absolutely refuse to let the last 10 years of work by all these people behind me to be in. [applause] [applause] >> too often we sit around and

we act like this isn't a problem. gun violence has existed in america before there was the united states. my grandfather who signed the treaty that allowed for the colonists to come was forced into those treaties because of gun violence and when he signed the third treaty he was shot in the back and killed. i'm just saying you know the statistics and i'm a little emotional. i'm a little emotional because we've been finding -- and they don't even pay attention to it. those are my ancestors that are in those graves. those are our ancestors in that grave. they are not indigenous people. they are british, they are quakers, they are french, they are people from all across this world. make america great.

for when? when was america great? america was great before we had all of this gun violence. they came to american push to the people into push the people into repression. the bullet doesn't know what race you are or what party you are. when you have an an event and he wanted to end on time to unmask the miniatures to speak. i'm going to do my best. to be in a middle school for a party and seen the principal been on the ground because he was shot in the face with the gun. and honestly there too many occurrences of gun violence and

our communities. people often tell stories about how their sense of safety was shattered i'd gun violence and i completely understand. for me and many folks in our country especially those that grow up in the inner city, it's like these experiences with gun violence or something painful yeah. we can win this fight against gun violence. the pain we feel, that's what happens when you grow up in a country where more than 100 people are killed by gun violence every day and hundreds more are wounded. the unthinkable becomes normal. we can win this fight of gun violence. a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence happens every day in our

communities. the fight or flight kicks in when you are a child and it never turns off. in fact we could lose hope. we can win this fight against gun violence. we are here today to say it doesn't have to be that way. let's just get it right. it's not good. the evil of gun violence is within our power, the same thoughts and we hear over and over and over again, they don't save lives. they don't change laws. all leads to the same thing even more lives lost at the hands of gun violence. if you are a politician stopped

working to get elected and start working to do the job we pay you to do. [cheers and applause] we are constantly living in a cycle of abuse and i'm talking about everybody. have you ever looked in the face of the mother whose child was shot while they were carrying them down the steps because a random bullet came into the house and threw everything that's happening your story is in on the news. nobody is writing about you in the newspapers. for the father that is raising a family all by themselves that tells their daughters what you need to do is to stand up in their face and give them a fist but he wasn't thinking about a gun.

that child never comes back home from school. today it's been hopeless since the 15 and 1600's. dear people, look at you all around here. you are just like me. you are just like shannon and all the people standing here before you and you deserve a better life. you pay for a better life and people need to get out and start making sure it happens. we have a chance to build a country where people like us all when the fight against gun violence. i want to extend my heartfelt thanks to today's speakers are survivors, are organizers are leaders are champions in congress and express to everyone

of you my gratitude. i was talking to a man earlier today talking about the days of coming into the gas station you want to get some gas. it's not like i'm trying to do something to win a million dollars. i just want to put some gas in my car and you can even the pump the gas in your car because someone is hiding in the trunk and you don't know if you'll ever able to finish filling the car. what i'm saying is i used to sing this song. they are being the way they are because we have at the point in which the embarrassment is when

the truth comes and approaches start to run. what i'm saying is they are roaches need to run around and go back to wherever they came from and we may have a difference of opinion. we all come together when it comes to saving lives and having a safe community. i just want you all to say this with me. we can win this fight. >> we can win this fight. against gun violence. >> gun violence. >> said again. >> we can win this fight. we can win this fight against gun violence. >> thank you all for being here. [applause]

[chanting]

the presiding officer: without