Committee on Oversight and Reform Hearing on The Urgent Need to Address the Gun Violence Epidemic – June 8, 2022 Statement by Congressman Danny K. Davis

Thank you Madam Chairwoman, and I also want to thank the witnesses that have been here with us much of the day.  I think it’s clear – there is no doubt – that we have a gun violence crisis in our country.  Matter of fact, there have been more mass shootings this year than there’ve been days in the year because there is one almost every day, and every time you pick up the paper or watch television.

In addition, there is a steady drum beat of gun violence daily, with an average of 124 people losing their lives to gun violence every day.  In 2020, more than 45,000 people were killed by gun violence—the highest number in our history. The lives lost by homicide, suicide, and other gun-related injuries occur hourly, and the crushing impact of these losses expands exponentially to their loved ones and their communities.

Given that gun violence is a public health problem, I am preparing to reintroduce my bill to create a dedicated funding stream for gun violence prevention. You know, an ounce of prevention, I was told, is worth much more than a pound of cure. No comparable developed nation has nearly the number of gun deaths as we do. To reduce gun violence, we need stable revenue to research it and combat it. 

When we talk of all the aspects of gun violence, I live in inner city America with one of the largest populations of low-income people that you can find in a city in America; that is the city of Chicago. We call it the Windy City. And, of course, it’s a city where local elected officials have been making every effort that they could to reduce gun violence. You cannot purchase, legally, a handgun in the City of Chicago. Yet, handguns were flowing into our city like water flows into a river. And that’s because we know that no matter how hard you try, we can’t do the job that we need to do unless there is federal action.  Federal. You can walk across the street into another area and purchase all the weapons that you want and manage to sneak them back into Chicago.

When we talk about the trauma of gun violence, mine does not come from reading the papers or watching it. My grandson, when he was fifteen years old, was killed in a little scrap with a group of kids, and they didn’t even really dislike each other. They had a little group that would swap clothes. “Let me wear your gym shoes tomorrow, and you wear my jacket.” Or “let me wear your hairpiece.”  But they got into a little scrap, and one of the young people had a gun. And, of course, another one hollered “Shoot!” And he shot. It was the most chilling telephone call I've ever gotten from a police commander who called and said, “I think I’ve got some bad news.”  The trauma of that experience has wrecked his family.  As a matter of fact, shortly after that, my son - his father - just kinda of gave up and passed away.  My granddaughter has been traumatized, and their whole family is disrupted.

So, if we’re going to be real in terms of what we need, we need federal gun legislation that limits the number of guns that exist in our country. There is no reason we can’t do that. We can. We should, and we must. I thank you Madam Chairman, and I yield back.