The next time members of Congress stop for a moment of silence in honor of the victims of mass shootings, California Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) won't be participating.
"I'm not going to stand up for a moment of silence again and then watch us do nothing," she said. "It's hypocritical and it speaks to our impotence that we think that it's good enough to just take out one minute and pray for the lives. The families of those who have died don't want our one minute of silence. They want some assurance that this kind of conduct is not going to be sanctioned in this country moving forward." Speier — who was shot five times in 1978 when she traveled to Jonestown to investigate the Peoples Temple — added that she's "had it. I have had it with inaction. I've had it with the sense that it's okay that we not act."
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Menlo Park) said she's also frustrated by the House not voting on legislation focusing on gun laws. "The tragedies continue and the Congress does nothing …. and shame on the Congress," she told the Los Angeles Times. "To say over and over and over again, 'You have our thoughts and prayers,' doesn't seem very sincere to me anymore." When asked by the Times what has to happen in order for members of Congress to act, Eshoo said: "Members go through their thoughts and their prayers, and decide to do something for the American people, and not the NRA."
