Politics

Democrat Says She Thinks She Is Only Rep Who Has Been A Victim Of Gun Violence, Appears To Forget Steve Scalise Was A Victim Of Gun Violence

[Screenshot Twitter The Recount]

Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
Font Size:

Democratic California Rep. Jackie Speier said Wednesday she believes she is the only representative that is a “victim of gun violence,” seemingly forgetting about Republican Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise.

Speaking before Congress in support of the “Protect Our Kids Act,” Speier said she is under the impression she’s the only member of Congress that has been a victim of gun violence.

“I believe I’m the only member of this House that is a victim of gun violence,” Speier said. “My body is riddled with bullets.”

“I have a divot in my leg that is the size of a football. I have skin grafts on all parts of my body. I live with that every single day. A victim of gun violence is traumatized over and over again. I implore my colleagues on the other side of the aisle: if we had a 737 that crashed every month for 12 months in this country, we would do something about it. And that’s what’s happening to children in this country. 1500 kids die of gun violence every single year. We have to do something about it.”

Speier was working as a congressional staffer in 1978 when she and others took part in a fact-finding mission to investigate alleged human rights abuses by Jim Jones at Jonestown in Guyana. The team was ambushed by cult followers as they boarded a plane to leave Jonestown. Five people were killed while Speier, who was shot several times, waited 22 hours for help.

But Speier isn’t the only member of Congress who has been a victim of gun violence.

Scalise was nearly killed when James T. Hodgkinson, a supporter of Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, stalked out a Virginia baseball field where the GOP congressional team was practicing and shot at multiple Republican members of Congress. Scalise suffered a shattered femur along with damage to his hip. (RELATED: Steve Scalise Wants Accountability For Maxine Waters: ‘I Was Shot Because Of This Kind Of Dangerous Rhetoric’)

The House voted Wednesday 223-204 to pass sweeping gun control measures, though the legislation is not expected to pass the Senate. Among the legislation passed includes raising the age to buy certain semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21, a ban on high capacity magazines, and add more federal regulations for bump stocks and ghost guns.