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“Our hearts have been broken by the tragedy of gun violence,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi opened her Thursday morning remarks, cutting straight to a subject Donald Trump did everything to avoid: guns. Pelosi invoked Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s “innocent children sending terrified texts” and thanked God for the heroism of teachers, but it wasn’t all thoughts and prayers with her. Both Pelosi and Rep. Mike Thompson, chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, had a policy agenda to prevent the next mass shooting. “We shouldn’t be responding, we should be preventing,” as Pelosi said.
That’s why “Once again we see the urgency of Congress to take true common-sense action to prevent gun violence.”
Pelosi and Thompson called for a select committee on gun violence and for expanded background checks, with Thompson saying that the move for a select committee was introduced “out of utter frustration that the Republican leadership wouldn’t give us a hearing on background checks.” Pelosi was clear that “If this background check were brought up in the House it. would. win.”
And Pelosi was clear about the overriding moral imperative here: “I’d rather pass gun safety legislation than win the election. Because people die from this.”
But we won’t get gun safety legislation unless Democrats do take back the House. Can you give $1 to the Democratic nominee fund in each Daily Kos-targeted district?