WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today delivered a speech on the Senate floor decrying another weekend of mass gun violence across the country, including a shooting outside a Washington Nationals game and the shooting of more than 50 people in Chicago, including seven children. In his remarks, Durbin called out the continued normalization of gun violence in American life despite the unrelenting trauma and deaths caused by daily shootings.
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“On Saturday night, fans at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., were sent into a panic by a sound that’s become all too familiar in American life – the sound of gunfire. In the middle of the sixth inning, three people were shot outside the stadium on South Capitol Street. That burst of gunfire reverberated throughout the stadium – and it could even be heard on the television and radio broadcasts of the game,” said Durbin. “The photos and videos from Saturday night tell a clear story: we are a nation that has become traumatized by gun violence.”
Durbin went on to call for passage of the bipartisan, House-passed Bipartisan Background Checks Act and urged Senate Republicans to finally support widely-popular, common sense solutions to reduce gun violence.
“Just this last weekend, more than 50 people were shot in our city [Chicago]—including seven children and teenagers. The sad reality is gun violence has become as American as baseball. The question before this Senate again and again and again is: Will we do anything about it?” said Durbin. “I hope Senate Republicans will join us in supporting this and other common sense measures like confirming a director for the agency that enforces the gun laws on the books—the ATF—for the first time since 2015. Too many lives have been lost to gun violence in this country. It’s time for us to finally come together and put an end to this senseless violence.”
Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.
Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.
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