05.26.22

Durbin: Will Senators Set Politics Aside To Stop The Killing Of Innocent Children? Or Will They Protect The Gun Industry?

In a speech on the Senate floor, Durbin mourns the loss of life at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and calls on his Senate colleagues to act to prevent future tragedies

WASHINGTON – In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, spoke about the tragic mass shooting that claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.  Durbin also called on his Senate colleagues to support common sense gun safety legislation to prevent such appalling acts of mass murder in the future.  

“I cannot imagine what it was like… in Texas in the homes of the 19 children who lost their lives in that Robb Elementary School gun massacre.  Those are the longest, loneliest nights of your life as a parent when you’ve lost a child,” Durbin said.  “The freedom and joy of youth was ripped from every single one of those 19 children and two of the heroic teachers who sought to protect them when they were murdered in cold blood by this gunman.  Today instead of thinking about vacation and summer, the parents are sadly making funeral arrangements for their babies.  Others are sitting down with their children and trying to explain why their playmates are not at school.” 

Durbin continued, “Now families across America are stepping forward to offer their condolences, donate to the families who lost these precious children, and to demand that this Senate act to prevent… the appalling acts of mass murder that we see way too often.  The members of the Senate have to make a choice – will we listen to the American people in their overwhelming numbers calling on us to set politics aside and stop the killing of children and other innocent Americans, or will we cower in front of the gun industry?  The lives of countless children, and I might add grandchildren, depend on our answer to that question.”

Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.

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