Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. DEAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I am assuming our colleague on the other side of the aisle can pass a background check, so she will have no inability to have a gun.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, because even as we manage a deadly pandemic, gun violence continues to plague our Nation.

Every year, more than 130,000 people in this Nation are victims of gun violence. Some 38,000 dead, another 100,000 caught in the crossfire. In my home region in Philadelphia, 2,244 people were victims of gun violence in the year 2020.

Mr. Speaker, death by guns doesn't mean only murders. Sadly, it also means death by suicide using a firearm, which was the case in 62 percent of Pennsylvania's gun deaths last year. This is a public health crisis.

The Bipartisan Background Checks Act requires a background check for all gun sales, no loopholes, no backdoors, a commonsense solution supported by a majority of Americans, including 89 percent of Republicans and 87 percent of gun owners.

Mr. Speaker, let's find the courage to address the crisis. Let's save lives. Let's pass the bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source