Vermont Business Magazine Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) spoke on the Senate floor Wednesday as thousands of students walked out of schools across the country to protest gun violence. Sanders read some of the names of Vermonters killed by gun violence. See below for Sanders' remarks and click image to download video of Sanders' speech.
"I want to thank the young people throughout this country who have the courage to do what the United States Congress is not doing. And that is to lead us forward in a way to lower the slaughter that we have seen from coast to coast in terms of gun violence.
"The bad news is that people continue to be killed every day. The good news is that the American people have come together around commonsense solutions to lower the level of gun violence that we are experiencing.
"The American people know that we need to expand and improve background checks; that we need to do away with the gun show loophole; that we need to do away with the straw man provision. And more and more Americans understand that we should ban the sale and distribution of military-style weapons.
"In my small state of Vermont, between 2011 and 2016, 42 people were killed by guns, and some of them are:
· Lara Sobel
· Julie Falzarano
· Regina Herring
· Rhonda Herring
· Molly Helland
· Molly McLain
· Kevin DeOliveira
· Rhonda Gray
· Markus Austin
· Obafemi Adedapo
"These are just some of those who have lost their lives to gun violence in Vermont."
Source: Sanders 3.14.2018