'Entirely Preventable Death': Stacey Plaskett Promotes Gun Safety Laws In Weaponization Committee

4 months ago

At today's House Weaponization of the Federal Government Committee hearing, Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) spoke about the victims of gun violence.

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Transcript

00:00 Thank you to the chairman.

00:03 Good morning and thank you to the witnesses and the others that are here and joining us

00:08 at this hearing.

00:10 Last week, after Trump insider and convicted criminal Steve Bannon demanded that Chairman

00:16 Jordan do more to protect Donald Trump, and this committee answered the call.

00:22 It's no accident that last week this committee called as a witness a former defense attorney

00:29 for Donald Trump in the classified documents case.

00:32 Rudy Giuliani's former lawyer and the attorney who has written and filed Chairman Jordan's

00:38 amicus briefs to the Supreme Court to support Donald Trump's many indictments.

00:45 Republicans rolled their eyes and snickered when I noted, as the ranking Democrat on this

00:48 subcommittee, that the plain goal of that hearing was to influence the New York Hush

00:52 Money trial against Donald Trump.

00:56 Just so the public is clear how closely this committee is trying to link Donald J. Trump's

01:02 criminal and civil matters and use this committee to act as outside defense special counsel,

01:08 two days ago Robert Costello, a Republican witness from last week's hearing, was called

01:14 by Donald Trump as a witness for the defense in that very trial and used his same manic

01:21 rambling testimony that he gave in this subcommittee.

01:25 Thankfully now, maybe the chairman and GOP members won't continue to be blasted by Fox

01:31 News and other MAGA news outlets and blogs for not doing enough with the committee to

01:36 support the former president.

01:38 Costello got to try out his testimony.

01:41 Defense counsel thought it was good enough to appear as a witness on the stand last week.

01:46 I know the American people don't believe that this is an appropriate use of the $20 million

01:52 allocated to this committee, holding six full hearings to bolster disproven lies that the

01:58 government is colluding with social media companies to target conservatives, calling

02:03 in an anti-Semitic, anti-vax, racist conspiracy theorist who claims a worm ate part of his

02:10 brain as a witness.

02:12 Others just spread the widely debunked fringe claims about the deep state or have personnel

02:17 grievances from appropriate firing from their former employers that the committee offers

02:23 them time to air here.

02:25 This is what Republicans have made of the committee process, but I guess it goes along

02:30 with their inability to effectively legislate in this Congress as well.

02:36 You know, people often wonder with my courtroom litigation background, having been prosecuting

02:41 assistant district attorney, if I enjoy these hearings.

02:45 I have to tell you, every time I get a notice of a hearing for this committee, my stomach

02:52 hurts because I'm disturbed by the use of this legislative time to prop up a failed

02:58 individual, one individual, a loser in elections, a disastrous dictatorial wannabe in governing,

03:07 a perennially bankrupt, false revenue inflating con artists in business, and a cheater in

03:14 marriage even.

03:16 That's who the Republicans want us to spend our time on supporting Donald Trump rather

03:22 than the American people.

03:24 Today we're going a step further.

03:26 We are somehow having a hearing to protect the gun lobby to prop up Donald Trump's pro-death

03:32 agenda when more than 100 Americans die of gun violence every day.

03:37 We have colleagues who have lost friends, classmates, mass shooters.

03:41 Some of us in this Congress see the scourge of illegal guns coming across state and city

03:46 lines to ravage communities with gun violence and death abuse.

03:51 But these deaths happen everywhere, haunting every corner of the American experience.

03:56 And without a robust federal law enforcement, an ATF and FBI, Americans will die at a faster

04:04 rate.

04:05 I know that the Virgin Islands, my home, our federal law enforcement play a critical role

04:10 in combating the scourge of drugs and guns trafficking.

04:16 Without these agencies or with more guns available to bad people, my region where I live and

04:21 all of America will be even more dangerous.

04:26 Families of gun violence victims have their lives ripped apart and turned upside down

04:30 in a moment.

04:31 None of that has helped or made less common occurrence when we attack and undermine the

04:37 ATF and the FBI.

04:39 Republicans on this committee simply, it's not a matter of caring about those mass victims.

04:48 Families in Valdi identified their children by shoes because they could not identify them

04:56 by the faces that they had looked at every day.

05:00 It's easy to become desensitized in politics, but if that doesn't hurt you, if you don't

05:06 feel anything for that, God help us all.

05:11 There have already been 27 deaths from school shootings this year alone.

05:16 Almost 4,000 children and teens are shot and killed every year, 15,000 more injured.

05:22 Guns are the number one cause of death in children between the age of one and 18.

05:26 The first cause of death, guns.

05:30 Car accidents, suffocation, drowning, poisoning, cancer.

05:35 Number one, guns.

05:37 An entirely preventable death if guns were in fact well regulated.

05:43 Instead of addressing this real problem and instead of listening to three quarters of

05:48 gun owners, gun owners, three quarters that support common sense gun safety laws, we're

05:55 continuing with this.

05:57 They brought us here right after police week in furtherance of a mission to defund and

06:02 dismantle the agency trying to save our children, save Americans from gun violence.

06:08 The ATF is a central agency dedicated to stopping the source of gun violence.

06:14 Agents ensure the background check laws are followed, they keep guns out of the hands

06:19 of criminals, they investigate gun crimes, they prevent mass shootings, school shootings,

06:24 they support local law enforcement and gun tracing and enforcement efforts.

06:28 They do the vital work we so desperately need.

06:32 We're going to hear today about ATF overreach and especially about the death of Mr. Malinowski.

06:41 That is a tragic loss of life.

06:45 Every loss of life is tragic.

06:47 Our sympathies, all of us I believe, go out to the family.

06:52 While an investigation is ongoing, it's inappropriate to be drawing conclusions before the results

06:59 of an investigational release.

07:02 We do know from affidavits from the court that it was alleged that Mr. Malinowski was

07:08 a mass gun trafficker and we know that some of the guns he sold were used to commit crimes.

07:15 We know that ATF agents were serving a legitimate search warrant.

07:19 Beyond that, we await the results of an investigation and this committee shouldn't seek to influence

07:25 that.

07:26 Let's not be mistaken.

07:29 Republicans are not here today because they're concerned about the tragic loss of life during

07:34 a police raid.

07:35 You know why I know that?

07:37 Because they have not uttered a word about a Florida deputy shooting and killing senior

07:43 airman Roger Fortsman in his apartment just a week ago.

07:48 You know why I know that?

07:50 Because they don't say anything.

07:52 They don't say the name Breonna Taylor, who in 2020 was shot and killed in her home through

08:00 an inappropriate police raid.

08:03 They don't want to talk about the gun violence impacting communities or how across the country

08:08 a black American is shot and wounded every 11 minutes.

08:15 They don't want to talk about the interstate gun trafficking that's fueling violence in

08:19 Illinois, where on an average someone is killed every six hours with a gun and where black

08:25 individuals are 38 times more likely than white individuals to die by gun homicide,

08:32 triple the national average.

08:34 So while homicides dropped by 13% in Chicago last year, that doesn't mean that people aren't

08:40 still dying.

08:41 Those victims deserve to be more than statistics.

08:45 We don't talk about that.

08:46 They don't want to talk about that.

08:48 They don't want to talk about other kinds of police raids.

08:51 They want to talk about this police raid on Mr. Malinowski because it fits their narrative

08:58 about how to dismantle the ATF.

09:01 That's what this is about.

09:03 Don't let them fool you.

09:05 They don't care.

09:07 And when they do care, it's not about every American.

09:10 It's only about a specific type of American that they're concerned about those deaths.

09:15 I don't hear those other names being called by them.

09:19 Ms. Sampson, Mr. Graham, I want to thank our witnesses for being there today.

09:25 Ms. Sampson, your expertise and vast experience in gun violence prevention spaces is truly

09:30 impressive.

09:31 I'm confident it will be invaluable as we examine those issues here today.

09:36 Mr. Graham, I'd also like to thank you for your more than 37 years of public service

09:42 at the ATF.

09:46 I guess I will be enlightened as to why you've begun getting paid by the very gun lobby fighting

09:53 ATF's work.

09:55 I want to thank the other witnesses.

09:57 I would ask all four of you today in your testimony and answers to remember something.

10:02 As we engage in this hearing, in the three or so hours we'll be sitting here before us,

10:08 more than a dozen Americans will lose their lives to gun violence.

10:12 It's a somber but necessary reminder of the gravity of what we discuss here today and

10:18 what's really at stake.

10:20 I yield back.

10:21 The gentlelady yields back without objection.

10:23 All of the opening statements will be included in the record.

10:25 I will now recognize the gentleman from Arkansas to introduce himself.

'Entirely Preventable Death': Stacey Plaskett Promotes Gun Safety Laws In Weaponization Committee

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