{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://mcgarvey.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-morgan-mcgarvey-introduces-resolution-condemning-louisville-mass", "Congressman Morgan McGarvey Introduces Resolution Condemning Louisville Mass Shootings and Joins House Democratic Leadership at Gun Violence Prevention Task Force Press Conference", "2023-04-28", "2023", "2023-04", "Democrat", "House", "KY", "Morgan McGarvey", "M001220", "mcgarvey.house.gov", "mcgarvey", "https://mcgarvey.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, DC (April 27, 2023) \u2013 Today, Congressman Morgan McGarvey (KY-03) joined Dr. Jason Smith from UofL Health, House Democratic Leadership, and his Gun Violence Prevention Task Force colleagues to urge House Republicans to pass common sense gun violence prevention legislation. This week, Congressman McGarvey introduced a House Resolution condemning Louisville\u2019s two mass shootings and led a letter to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives urging them to destroy the gun used in the Old National Bank shooting.\n\nThe resolution honors the memory of the Old National Bank and Chickasaw Park mass shooting victims, recognizes the first responders and medical professionals who responded to the shootings, and calls for action to combat the gun violence epidemic across the country. Co-sponsors include Reps. Becca Balint, Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D., Brendan Boyle, Emanuel Cleaver II, Jasmine Crockett, Jason Crow, Mark DeSaulnier, Adriano Espaillat, Robert Garcia, Josh Gottheimer, Al Green, Glenn Ivey, Sara Jacobs, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Greg Landsman, John Larson, Susie Lee, Betty McCollum, Grace Meng, Kevin Mullin, Joe Neguse, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Patrick Ryan, Hillary Scholten, Haley Stevens, Eric Swalwell, Jill Tokuda, and Nikema Williams.\n\nBelow are Congressman McGarvey\u2019s remarks at the Gun Violence Prevention press conference. To view the full press conference, click here.\n\nThank you, Leader Jeffries and Chairman Thompson. Thank you both sincerely for your amazing and bold leadership in the fight against America\u2019s epidemic of gun violence.\n\nSeventeen days ago, I was here in Washington, D.C. with my family when I learned that there\u2019d been a mass shooting, this time at Old National Bank in Louisville \u2014 a catastrophic event that took 5 lives, Juliana Farmer, Deana Eckert, Jim Tutt, Josh Barrick, and my good friend Tommy Elliott, and injured 8 others, including a young police officer Nick Wilt who\u2019s still fighting for his life in a hospital bed after taking a round from an AR-15 to the head.\n\nAs I was leaving, I told my oldest daughter, Clara, I had to go home because there\u2019d been a mass shooting. All of the color drained from her face. She looked up at me and said, \u201cOh no, which school was it?\u201d Then, the next day, when my wife was dropping our kids off at elementary school, Clara told her, \u201cHey Mommy, please be safe at work today.\u201d\n\nBreaks your heart. It\u2019s devastating. As if the senseless, constant loss of life day after day after day after day weren\u2019t enough, knowing that our kids are living with this very real fear is awful.\n\nBut of course they\u2019re afraid. Why wouldn\u2019t they be afraid? Gun violence is the number one cause of death for children in this country. Think about that. More kids die from gunshots than anything else in this country \u2014 and what do we get? Thoughts and prayers, excuses and political posturing that ensure a troubled individual with destructive thoughts can go and buy a weapon of war in a moment\u2019s notice.\n\nThis morning, we learned that the shooter at Old National Bank was seeing a psychiatrist for suicidal ideation, and walked in and within 40 minutes, had purchased an AR-15 and the ammunition to go with it. Six days later, it took him less than four minutes for him to shoot and kill five of his coworkers, injure seven others, and for the police to come and he fired upon them. The shooter\u2019s parents spoke out, and they said we\u2019re doing nothing and it\u2019s not working. The victims\u2019 families have said that we\u2019re doing nothing and it\u2019s not working.\n\nDr. Jason Smith, Chief Medical Officer and Trauma Surgeon who was on call that day in Louisville, has said that we\u2019re doing nothing and it\u2019s not working.\n\nWe must do something. That\u2019s why Democrats are here asking for help, it\u2019s why this week, I\u2019ve been approaching my colleagues in the Republican Caucus, on the floor of the House, asking them where they can meet us, where we can work on this legislation.\n\nI\u2019ll be honest \u2014 I haven\u2019t gotten anywhere yet. But I\u2019m not giving up. Over the coming weeks, my friends and colleagues on the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and I will continue to appeal to our colleagues across the aisle, one-on-one, in the hopes of turning empty thoughts and prayers into meaningful action and policy.\n\nThis is an epidemic of our own making, and that means we have the power to stop it. The solutions aren\u2019t complicated. We can ban assault weapons; mandate waiting periods, pass red flag laws, background checks, storage requirements; and institute magazine limits.\n\nWe know these solutions would work, they\u2019ve worked in every other developed nation on earth. All that\u2019s lacking is the political courage. It\u2019s time we put kids over guns, that we put public safety over guns, that we put people\u2019s lives over guns.\n\nWe don\u2019t have to live like this. And we don\u2019t have to die like this. Gun violence is a choice in this country, and it\u2019s time for us to make a new one.\n\nNow, I have the honor of introducing a true local hero in my community. Dr. Jason Smith, who faces the trauma of gun violence every day, not just on the days when there are mass shootings, and I\u2019m glad he could join us today.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T23:44:29Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://mcgarvey.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-morgan-mcgarvey-introduces-resolution-condemning-louisville-mass"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2385686859488487, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}