Stand with Our Children, not Gun Lobby: Bold Action Needed to Confront Gun Violence

Stand with Our Children, not Gun Lobby:

Bold Action Needed to Confront Gun Violence

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), an active member of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, issued a statement about the epidemic of gun violence and the exclusion of the leadership of state teacher organizations and of two prominent gun safety groups from development of a state plan to address it. You can view Rep. Doggett's video statement here and read his statement below. Please reach out if you would like the video file in a different format.

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"Seeing the horror and grief in Santa Fe, I thought: This could have been my granddaughter's school. It could have been the school of a member of your family. And then, before Friday even ended, there was another shooting at a Georgia school.

Gun violence is increasingly the way that some disturbed people project their anger, their hate, or their fear. We've had enough moments of silence. We need some moments of action to prevent more and more families from suffering like this. While there is no legislative panacea, this NRA-beholden Congress refuses to even approve a Commission to study gun violence. I agree that we should strengthen school security, though we've done that pretty well in our area already, and that we need to improve access to mental health services—the very kind that Republicans have opposed. But that is just not enough.

Personally, I grew up in Texas with guns. I recall one November morning, when my father won a Winchester 30/30 for bringing in the first deer in the county. We were mighty proud. But you just don't need a military-style assault rifle for that. And gunowners have nothing to fear from a quick, universal background check. We need officials with the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and stand up for our schoolchildren—not to endlessly praise the NRA, as Governor Abbott, Governor Dan Patrick, and our Senators did up in Dallas just this very month. An Abbott roundtable, like the one President Trump conducted, or appointing just another committee—that's just not enough."

Rep. Doggett added, "Excluding representatives of Moms Demand Action, March for our Lives, and the leadership of state teacher organizations from the roundtable indicates that any state plan will not be well rounded and that, despite the goodwill of some who are participating, the potential for meaningful action is minimal. We need truly bold action to prevent more deaths by confronting gun violence. It's time to stand with our children, not the gun lobby."

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