Casten Votes for Bipartisan Gun Control Legislation, Delivers Floor Speech Honoring Aurora Victims
Washington, D.C. – Today U.S. Representative Sean Casten (IL-06) voted in favor of H.R. 8, a bipartisan bill that would strengthen background checks on guns sales. The bill would require universal background checks for all gun sales, closing the "gun-show" loophole. It would require any firearm transfer between unrelated, unlicensed individuals — such as a buyer and seller at a gun show — to be conducted through a licensed dealer, who is required to perform the background check on the recipient.
Following the vote, Casten delivered a Floor speech honoring the five victims of the Aurora, Illinois shooting on February 15th.
To watch Casten's Floor Speech, click the image above or click here.
Casten said in his speech, "We just voted on H.R. 8 - the first gun control measure taken up in Congress in years. While it is progress, we still have a long way to go. Too many lives have been taken from too many communities.
And On February 15th, the town of Aurora, Illinois, on the edge of my District, was that community, when a man with a gun took five innocent lives at his place of work.
Those five men -- Trevor Wehner, Clayton Parks, Vicente Juarez, Russell Beyer, and Josh Pinkard -- were fathers, brothers, sons, and uncles. They joined a long line of Americans who have been going about their daily lives and taken down in flash of gun violence.
And here's what's really sickening. Most of the Members of this body don't know their names. And a week from now, their names are likely to be replaced by other names. Not because these victims don't deserve to be remembered, but because, on a typical day in America, over 100 people die from gun violence. 100 avoidable deaths every day. Can we all remember their names? I can't. And shame on us for allowing that to happen.
Occasionally, one of those shootings captures our attention. And we offer up some thoughts and prayers in exchange. Leave that to families, leave that to people of faith. We're lawmakers. Our job is to write the laws, fix the laws.
If 100 million guns were taken off the street tomorrow we would still have more guns than any other country. We need to do more. Thank you."
###