Pelosi Remarks at Student Walkout to Demand Commonsense Gun Violence Prevention

Leader Pelosi.  Good morning DMV.  Thank you Brenna Levitan, and thank you to all of the Montgomery County students for your courage to stand up, speak out and walk out.  I am proud to be here with Brenna and Aaron Torop.  Aaron organized with Congressman Ted Deutch of Florida, our leader on this issue, representing in Congress the students who have sacrificed so much, spoken so eloquently, commanded the attention of the nation.  Aaron helped organize the Congressional Solidarity Walkout that all of us are honored to be a part of.

[Applause]

Congressional Solidarity Walkout, we are all moved by your eloquence and fearless insistence on action to prevent gun violence.  Thank you for bringing your urgency to this fight, to the doorstep of America, the doorstep of the Capitol of the United States.  Our Congressional Solidarity Walkout is here to say: enough is enough.  Whether Orlando, San Bernardino, South Carolina, Las Vegas, Newtown, Sutherland Springs, Parkland, city streets, homes across the nation, there has been too much violence, too much heartbreak.

The American people overwhelmingly support commonsense action to prevent the tragedy of gun violence.  Ninety-seven percent of Americans support strengthening background checks, including 97 percent of gun owners.  What more do they need to hear?

There is a bipartisan path in Congress.  We need a vote now, we need a vote now, we need a vote now.  And so, I want to say to all of you, you are creating, with this walkout today and your ongoing challenge to all of us, to the conscience of America, you are creating a drumbeat across America.  A drumbeat that will echo until we get the job done.

[Applause]

I say to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, no one's political survival is more important than the survival of our children. Let us get the job done.  We need the help of young people like you.  Thank you for your eloquence, for your courage, for your presence and for your insistence that enough is enough.  We want a vote now.  And now it is my privilege to introduce Matt Post, the Student Board President of Montgomery Public Schools.  Thank you all, thank you all very much.