IL Lawmaker Honors Aurora Victims After Gun Bill Passes House

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The names of each person slain in the Feb. 15 shooting in Aurora echoed throughout the halls of Congress as Rep. Sean Casten, a Democrat from the 6th District, listed them in a speech that followed the House passing HR 8, a bipartisan bill to require universal background checks for gun purchases. Casten, who wore an orange ribbon to support gun violence awareness, voted in favor of the bill and used his one-minute speech to pay tribute to the shooting victims and to demand further action from lawmakers.

"It's progress, but we still have so far to go," Casten said of the bill, adding, "There are too many lives that have been taken from too many communities."

"On Feb. 15, in Aurora, Illinois, on the edge of my district, was that community and a man with a gun took five innocent lives. Trevor Wehner, Clayton Parks, Vicente Juarez, Russell Beyer and Josh Pinkard. They were fathers, brothers, sons, uncles, friends, and they joined a long line of Americans who'd been going about their daily lives and got killed," Casten said.

"And here's what's really sickening," Casten continued, "Most of the members of this body don't even know their names. A week from now you're going to forget their names and you're going to replace them with another set of names, not because they don't deserve to be remembered, but because every day in America, 100 people get shot.

"Can we remember all their names? I can't. And shame on us for allowing that to happen."

Casten then urged Congress to take further action, saying, "If we took 100 million guns off the street tomorrow, we would still have more guns than any other country. We need to do more."

The bipartisan bill, also called the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, was passed by a 240-190 vote in the House of Representatives. It aims to require a background check for all firearm sales in the nation, including at gun shows. Gun sales would be required to be done through a licensed dealer who would perform a background check.

According to Illinois State Police, Aurora shooter Gary Martin was issued a FOID card after a background check failed to reveal a previous conviction in Mississippi. Martin's FOID card was later revoked when he submitted fingerprints with an application for a conceal and carry license and the Mississippi conviction came up in that subsequent background check.