Today, Congresswoman Lois Frankel (FL-22) joined her Democratic colleagues in Congress to hold an hours-long sit-in to demand a vote on commonsense legislation to close the “No Fly, No Buy” and gun show loopholes. These loopholes currently allow suspected terrorists and criminals to purchase firearms in the United States. The goal of the sit-in, which began at 11:25 AM ET and continues at the time of this writing, is to urge a vote on these bills before the House of Representatives leaves Washington for a recess period next week.

Below are Frankel’s remarks as delivered:

“Like [my colleague, Congressman] David Cicilline, I was also a mayor. I remember the wails of grief in the emergency rooms of my city when loved ones were gunned down in violence.

When I heard the news in Florida last week, like many parents, I thought of my own son and said, ‘What if?’  An unbearable thought because before I am a politician, I am a mom.                 

So today I demand action for:

The mom in Aurora who sent her child to the movies;

The mom who put her child on the bus at Newtown;

The mom whose children went to pray in Charleston;

The mom in Orlando whose child went out for a night of celebration.

Those mothers and fathers whose hearts have been broken and will be broken because this Congress fails to do its job. 

For them I demand action.”

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