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Dem renews call for 'Department of Peace' after Conn. shooting
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) on Monday afternoon resumed his call for a federal "Department of Peace," which he said is needed to counteract a "cultural matrix" in the United States that produces violence.
"On a global level, this type of thinking justified war and brings the slaughter of innocents. Nationally, it sows seeds for murder," he said on the House floor.
"Yet war abroad and violence at home are not inevitable. We have it within our power to recreate America today."
"Let us create an organized, structured approach to become architects of a new culture of peace in our homes and our schools and our workplaces," he added. "This is what the Department of Peace is about. Let us establish in America, where national security and peace at home includes jobs, housing, physical and mental healthcare, education, retirement security for all."
Del. Gregorio Sablan (D), a delegate for the Northern Mariana Islands, also took to the floor Friday afternoon to offer condolences to the victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and also to argue in favor of stricter gun-control laws in light of the shooting.
"But merely to offer condolences feels meaningless to me, unless we also act to save other children and families and communities from a repetition of this same terrible tragedy," he said. "We in Congress must take action to keep assault weapons and high-capacity clips out of the hands of those who are so dangerous, or deranged or deluded that they can snuff out the life of innocents on a whim."
Sablan acknowledged the Second Amendment right to bear arms, but said that amendment should not be seen as something that prevents action.
"If our talk does not take guns out of the hands of people who would murder children, then our condolences today are just empty words," he said.
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