Posted on 12/04/2015 2:10:28 AM PST by Libloather
Congress has no right to moments of silence for victims of gun violence unless lawmakers intend to take action to prevent it, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) charged Thursday.
"Gun violence is a crisis of epidemic proportion in our nation," she said during a press briefing in the Capitol. "We've had far too many moments of silence on the floor of the House. And while it is right to respectfully acknowledge the losses, we can no longer remain silent.
"What gives us the right to hold moments of silence when we do nothing to act upon the cause of the grief?"
Pelosi's comments were in response to Wednesday's shooting massacre in San Bernardino, Calif., where two suspects killed 14 people and injured another 20.
That tragedy came on the heels of another high-profile mass shooting last Friday in Colorado Springs, where a lone suspect killed three people and injured another nine.
On Tuesday, Colorado lawmakers led a moment of silence on the House floor to mourn the victims and honor their families. A similar ritual is expected next week for the San Bernardino tragedy.
But Pelosi, joining a growing number of Democrats, says such gestures are empty if lawmakers oppose specific policies aimed at tackling the problem.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) suggested Wednesday that Congress's inaction makes lawmakers complicit in the violence.
"Your 'thoughts' should be about steps to take to stop this carnage," Murphy tweeted. "Your 'prayers' should be for forgiveness if you do nothing - again."
Pelosi singled out three specific reforms she said would both stem gun violence and attract enough bipartisan support to pass through Congress, if GOP leaders would bring them to the floor.
First, she pushed an expansion of mandatory background checks preceding gun sales - a requirement currently limited only to licensed firearms dealers.
Second, she called for Congress to adopt legislation barring those on the FBI's terrorist watch list from buying or owning guns - a prohibition not currently in place.
And third, she urged Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to create a special committee charged with studying gun violence and proposing specific policies for reining it in.
"They have a committee to harass Hillary Clinton. They have a committee to attack women's health," Pelosi charged. "They could possibly do something the American people truly want and that is to have a select committee on gun safety."
She shouldn't hold her breath.
An overwhelming majority of Republicans oppose any move to toughen gun laws. And that dynamic hasn't changed in the wake of a long string of mass shootings that include the near-killing of former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) in 2011; the 2012 shooting rampage at a Connecticut elementary school that left 20 children dead; the June killing of nine parishioners at an African-American church in Charleston, S.C.; and the recent tragedies in Colorado and San Bernardino.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) on Tuesday lamented that Congress would react to the Colorado Springs shooting with a moment of silence but no policy reforms - a strategy he warned would do nothing to prevent the next tragedy.
"It's hard to stand on the floor of the House of Representatives when this happens, to look around and wonder which of your colleagues will stand in the well next week when someone in their community falls victim to a mass shooting," Swalwell said.
"It could be a Republican, it could be a Democrat, it could be from the East Coast, it could be from the West Coast, it could be from the Midwest or the South. But there will be somebody in the coming weeks who will stand on the floor to honor people in their community who have died, until we do something about it."
He was all too prescient. The San Bernardino shooting happened the very next day.
Somebody hang her from a tree already.
Instead of worrying about “gun safety” she should worry about the decay of morals in the country due to liberal beliefs and lifestyles. Everything Americans ever believed in has been ripped and shredded by the liberal scumbags intent on destroying America for their own personal greed. They are intent on the New World Order.
What action? Disarming more innocent law abiding citizens?
Nancy the baby murderer
Pelosi is so stupid.
She thinks the constitution protects the right of silence.
Not speaking is speaking in some cases.
I wish Pelosi would use her right to silence.
Yes, it is my war on stupid.
I had to go back to the Declaration and ya know we had truly prophetic founders because the giver of rights is declared to be... Nancy Pelosi /s
There you have it. The Village idiot speaking for the other 344 idiots. All that’s needed now is that slime ball Reid to say something incoherent for the idiots in the Senate.
The only way to stop gun violence is to submit to Islam
Pelosi is stupid like a snake. She is completely deaf to individual freedom and the hitherto American Way of Life. She believes she is of a superior “class” and is “entitled” to dictate other people’s lives. She was raised in Baltimore politics. Need I say more???????????????????????
Apparently they’re not satisfied with the low number of defenseless victims.
Of course, the response to these mass shootings is always an upsurge in private firearms sales. Oh wait, Joe & Jill Average don’t rate their own armed Secret Service detail?
Stupid subjects, you have to qualify by popular vote in order to defend yourselves. And only by proxy, of course. Nobody in their right mind really wants to handle an actual firearm. Guns, they are so icky!
Their use should be relegated to those stupid enough to throw themselves between their Elected Betters & a bullet. Naturally, these special, stupid ranks are often filled by murderous cannon-fodder idiots like former military & law enforcement officers. That was their only option in life since they couldn’t make it in university, doncha know.
*rolling eyes*
Pelosi has the right to remain silent. Too bad she doesn’t exercise that right more often.
None of these scumbags said anything about gun control after 17 people were shot in New Orleans and after decades of blacks gunning down other blacks in Rat-controlled cities
Don’t get caught in the propaganda.
Obama has allowed a terrorist attack on US soil and must resign immediately.
When Paris was attacked did Holland blame Americans? Did he go straight to the Muslims and and ask to be informed if their rights were violated? No. Holland moved for the safety of his people.
Obama wasn’t even at last nights memorial -
And these assholes now want to ban prayer unless they get their way?
F*** THEM!
I demand their resignations immediately!
when we do nothing to act upon the cause of the grief
Huh...so she is coming around to acknowledge that we need to get rid of mooslimes.
Whodathunk?
2 reasons mass shootings happen: Mentally ill people and Muslims. But let’s not focus on that because we might accomplish something. Instead let’s focus on something that has absolutely NOTHING to do with it: Guns. I guess Nancy forget they also had bombs. Gee, why isn’t she calling for bomb control? Last October a mentally ill woman purposely slammed her car into a parade killing a bunch of people. Nancy call for any car control? The point being if someone wants to kill they will kill. The method has absolutely nothing to do with it. Would Nancy prefer a homemade flamethrower than can shoot ignited fuel 50 feet burning alive 20 people at a clip? If we want to stop mass killings we have to go to the source: The mentally ill and Muslims. Until that is addressed it will never end, and honestly I think liberals do not want it to end solely so they can continue this anti-gun rant.
Well, Nancy. We can confiscate 300,000,000 guns or we can tackle to problem of Islamonazi violence and terrorism.
Confiscating the guns won't keep jihadists from getting guns or making pipe bombs.
Eradicating the Islamic supremacist threat in our midst would make Americans safer.
The left tries to spin how ‘few’ muslims engage openly in jihadist violence (as opposed to providing economic support for it or tacit approval in polls and elsewhere) but doesn’t discuss just how few of the guns in this country are used in violent crimes.
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