EXCERPT:
O'ROURKE: "I met an extraordinary middle school student who may be here. She goes to Berg Middle School in Newton. Her name is Milan. When I had a chance to talk to her class, her one question is, 'I don’t want to come to school and wonder whether I’m going to come home at the end of the day.' What’s the answer to that? We know that in this country, those states that have adopted universal background checks and close every loophole — the Charleston loophole, the boyfriend loophole, the gun show loophole, and make sure that everyone who purchases a firearm goes through a background check, those states have seen a reduction in gun violence of up to 50%. When we complement that by ensuring that weapons of war designed for use on the battlefield are no longer sold into our communities so they don’t end up in our schools or our synagogues or in our churches, we can save even more lives.”