Duckworth: Anyone Who’s Ever Carried an Assault Weapon Into Combat Understands AR-15s Have No Place on America’s Streets
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] — Following the preventable, horrific Highland Park massacre that claimed the lives of seven Illinoisans on the Fourth of July, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) went to the Senate floor earlier today and made an impassioned call for additional commonsense gun safety reforms like reinstating the assault weapons ban to get weapons of war off our streets and protect our nation’s children as well as communities across America from senseless gun violence. Video of the Senator’s speech is available here.
Key quotes:
“[Gun violence] happens in Buffalo, in Chicago, in Uvalde, in Newtown, in Pittsburg, in DeKalb, in Virginia Beach, in El Paso, in two different Auroras, in Las Vegas. It happens in wealthy suburban communities, in low-income rural communities and in urban areas across our nation. It happens everywhere in America, but almost nowhere outside of this country. It happens so much here that we only hear about it in the national news when a large enough number of people are killed at one time and in one place.”
“I spent 23 years in the Army, so I recognize a weapon of war when I see one. I know why you would need to use them… the power they wield… and what they can do to a human body. I understand that AR-15 rifles were designed for the battlefield. From their portability, rapid rate of fire, power and accuracy to their effective range, these weapons were designed to rip apart the human body so your enemy can’t get back up and fire back at you on the field of combat. These are weapons of the battlefield, and have no business being on our streets and in our schools. There’s a reason why the parents in Uvalde had to submit DNA to identify their murdered children.”
“A few weeks ago, I went to talk to my [older] daughter’s class about Memorial Day… As I was talking, I happened to look outside the window of my older girl’s classroom only to see my younger daughter walking in a line, following behind the other kids in her class in the middle of a shelter-in-place drill… and I watched as that little row of three- and four- year-olds crouched down as small as they could get, and my daughter with her head against the wall put her hands over her head, learning to protect herself should there be a mass shooting. She’s just four years old… a toddler… and she was already being taught how to try to survive if someone with a weapon of war comes into the classroom where she’s just beginning to learn her ABCs, believing that their right to fire assault rifles matters more than her right to make it to age five.”
Duckworth’s full remarks as delivered are below:
Two-year-old Aiden McCarthy was laying bloodied and pinned underneath his unconscious father when he was found.
Just a toddler, Aiden was still in diapers, had somehow lost one shoe and was down to just one blood-soaked sock, with scrapes across his body.
It was last Monday, July Fourth, and Aiden was rescued from the site of a massacre—from the site of the latest mass shooting that has marred our country and left scarred all those who bore witness to its senseless terror.
I was at a nearby parade in Illinois when I heard about the shooting. I rushed to the Emergency Operations Center, and was there the moment the police came in and told us that two good Samaritans had found this young boy sheltered under his father’s body.
When Aiden was rescued, he kept asking for his mom and his dad.
But tragically… horribly… we later learned that they were never going to be able to comfort him ever again. Both his mother and father were among the seven people murdered during that Fourth of July parade shooting at Highland Park.
Their names were Irina and Kevin McCarthy. And they… like so many of us… had spent that holiday morning eager to take pride in our country…
Eager to celebrate the freedom and goodness and greatness that has defined our nation since its first breaths on that first July Fourth…
Eager to celebrate America at her best.
Instead, they experienced the very worst of it. They saw firsthand what can happen when a sick fealty to the gun lobby is prioritized over American lives. And Aiden is an orphan because of it.
I woke up today unable to get the image of two-year-old Aiden’s one bloodied sock out of my mind.
I woke up, as I have every day since that day, unable to stop thinking about how his mom or dad had put on his diaper that morning, just like I’ve done thousands of times with my own two little girls.
I woke up thinking about how when the first shots of that military-style rifle rang out, his parent’s first thoughts must have been about saving him… shielding him.
So today, I come to the floor to say their names—and the names of the five other victims… my constituents… who should still be breathing at this very moment but aren’t.
Katherine Goldstein. Jacquelyn Sundheim. Stephen Straus. Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza. Eduardo Uvaldo. And Irina and Kevin McCarthy.
There are too many victims of preventable gun violence to name all of them here. In fact, gun violence is the largest killer of children under the age of 16 in this country. Not disease, but the disease of gun violence. It happens in Buffalo, in Chicago, in Uvalde, in Newtown, in Pittsburg, in DeKalb, in Virginia Beach, in El Paso, in two different Auroras, in Las Vegas.
It happens in wealthy suburban communities, in low-income rural communities and in urban areas across our nation.
It happens everywhere in America, but almost nowhere outside of this country. It happens so much here that we only hear about it in the national news when a large enough number of people are killed at one time and in one place.
Think about that.
Every time gun violence occurs, someone decides whether or not the number murdered is worthy of column inches and breaking news graphics on TV—and too often the answer is no. Because there have been more mass shootings thus far in 2022 than there have been days in the year—and because we, as a country, have grown numb.
We witnessed that just last week in Chicago, as over the holiday weekend, Chicago’s death toll climbed even higher than the devastation seen in Highland Park.
Yet there was no national outcry.
In Chicago’s communities, gun violence is now viewed as all too common, and kids can no longer be kids. They’ve all heard too many stories of toddlers in strollers killed by a stray bullet, or parents murdered while picking up their own kids from school.
But these everyday gun deaths no longer garner the attention they demand. We’ve become desensitized—even as elementary-schoolers’ lives are being stolen, and survivors’ innocence is being lost.
Every gun death is a tragedy that can and should be prevented. This is a uniquely American disease that requires a national solution.
So I’m here on the floor today to plead with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to help keep any other toddler from having to cry out for his parents amidst gunshots and terror…
To help stop another day of patriotism, another math class, another trip to the grocery store from turning into a living nightmare.
I plead with them to help prevent all that by passing the Assault Weapons Ban: legislation that would block the further sale, transfer, manufacture and importation of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines for civilian use.
I spent 23 years in the Army.
So I recognize a weapon of war when I see one.
I know why you would need to use them… the power they wield… and what they can do to a human body.
I understand that the M4, the M16 and their civilian variants, known generically as AR-15 rifles, were designed for the battlefield.
From their portability, rapid rate of fire, power and accuracy to their effective range, these weapons were designed to rip apart the human body so your enemy can’t get back up and fire back at you on the field of combat.
These are weapons of the battlefield, and have no business being on our streets and in our schools.
There’s a reason why the parents in Uvalde had to submit DNA to identify their murdered children.
These AR-15 style rifles fire small caliber ammunition at a velocity that can easily penetrate many kinds of body armor even at a distance—so when an unprotected child is shot with an AR-15 at close range, the results are horrific.
And as anyone who’s ever carried an M4 into combat understands, the American people should not be misled into thinking that AR-15 rifles are “safe” for our communities or that a ban on fully-automatic machine guns is sufficient to protect our children from the most dangerous weapons of war.
Mass shooters are hunting mothers in malls, fathers in theaters and children in their schools.
For that evil purpose, a semi-automatic rifle is the perfect weapon, because it is lightweight, portable and easy to load with high-capacity magazines.
It couples the speed of automatically chambering the next round after each shot with maximum accuracy—a combination designed to kill as many people as possible, as fast as possible, as efficiently as possible.
So the first thing I thought when I heard the audio of last week’s tragedy was that it sounded like war.
Because the last time I heard the sound of gunfire that rapid and that many rounds going off on the Fourth of July was when I was serving in Iraq.
I never thought I’d hear that on this holiday again, let alone here on U.S. soil.
And I live, like so many other moms, in daily fear that my own daughters will be forced to hear that nightmarish soundtrack of war in their own classrooms or at their own local parade.
You know, a few weeks ago, I went to talk to my daughter’s class about Memorial Day… both girl’s teachers had asked me to come and explain the meaning of Memorial day, to talk about the sacrifices our troops, what we have done to safeguard our freedoms and rights as a nation—including, as the constitution says, our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
As I was talking, I happened to look outside the window of my older girl’s classroom only to see my younger daughter walking in a line, following behind the other kids in her class in the middle of a shelter-in-place drill… and I watched as that little row of three- and four- year-olds crouched down as small as they could get, and my daughter with her head against the wall put her hands over her head, learning to protect herself should there be a mass shooting.
She’s just four years old… a toddler… and she was already being taught how to try to survive if someone with a weapon of war comes into the classroom where she’s just beginning to learn her ABCs, believing that their right to fire assault rifles matters more than her right to make it to age five.
What I felt was close to horror. And I know other parents have felt the same.
I’m far from the only mom who will hug her kids a little tighter while putting them to bed tonight, then spend hours looking up ballistic backpacks to protect my girls in case the worst-case scenario becomes reality.
But the horrible truth is, even ballistic backpacks may not stop these rounds.
This week alone, hundreds of Illinoisans and survivors from other mass shootings were gathered at the Capitol.
These people—mostly moms—are still recovering from major trauma.
They have jobs and childcare responsibilities and no experience lobbying Congress.
Yet they made the trip to Washington, D.C., because they know that their children’s lives depend on it.
And because they’re beyond furious at the lack of action to ban these weapons of war that’ve terrorized all of our communities.
What these moms want isn’t impossible. It wouldn’t even be that difficult, if some more folks would grow a conscience.
These parents want us to do better: for them… for their kids… for all those in Highland Park last week and for every person who has so needlessly lost their life to gun violence, whether in a mass shooting or in a tragedy involving a single bullet.
The folks at that parade last Monday were there to celebrate life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Seven of them will never be able to do so again.
We have to stop this.
We have to end this cycle. And we can take a step toward doing so right now, by getting these weapons of war off our streets and passing this bill immediately.
To anyone who says no… to anyone who objects to passing this bill… I want to know how you can show off taking pride in our country on a holiday, then turn your back on its citizens one week later.
I want you to say the names of the ever-growing list of victims of these preventable tragedies.
I want you to remember Aiden’s pleas for his mom and dad… to think of the sound of the gunshots that those children in Uvalde heard… to try to fathom the anguish of the parents whose teenagers are gunned down in senseless everyday violence on our streets… and I want you to explain to them why the dollars you get from the NRA are worth their pain. Their tears. Their tragedy.
Please, I’m asking.
Explain how that campaign contribution is worth this endless cycle of blood and death.
Explain how your gun lobby-fattened campaign funds are worth another parent having to bury their first-grader in their favorite pair of Converse sneakers.
Or, if you don’t believe those checks are worth it… if you don’t actually value your political self-interest more than those Americans’ lives… then please, join me in passing this bill.
It’s that simple.
Thank you.
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