Florida Senate - 2017 SM 1322 By Senator Braynon 35-01334-17 20171322__ 1 Senate Memorial 2 A memorial to the Congress of the United States, 3 urging Congress to designate the month of September 4 2017 as “Firearm Violence Awareness Month.” 5 6 WHEREAS, the Department of Law Enforcement reports that in 7 2015 there were 767 homicides, 154 rapes, 17,095 aggravated 8 assaults, and 8,672 robberies involving a firearm committed in 9 Florida, and 10 WHEREAS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 11 states that every year approximately 33,600 people are killed 12 and 81,000 people are injured in homicides, aggravated assaults, 13 suicides and suicide attempts, unintentional shootings, and 14 police interventions involving firearms in the United States, 15 and 16 WHEREAS, more than 2,600 of the people killed by firearms 17 each year are children age 19 or younger, and 18 WHEREAS, the public has been horrified and saddened by 19 recent mass shooting events such as the one on June 12, 2016, in 20 which 49 people were killed and 53 people were wounded in the 21 Pulse nightclub in Orlando and by firearm homicides such as the 22 one on August 30, 2016, in which 8-year-old Jada Page was killed 23 in a drive-by shooting in Miami, and 24 WHEREAS, the United States firearm homicide rate is 20 25 times higher than the combined rates of 22 other countries that 26 are its peers in wealth and population, and 27 WHEREAS, it is imperative that there be greater public 28 awareness of firearm violence, NOW, THEREFORE, 29 30 31 Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 32 33 That the Congress of the United States designate the month 34 of September 2017 as “Firearm Violence Awareness Month.” 35 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State is 36 directed to dispatch copies of this memorial to the President of 37 the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the United States 38 House of Representatives, and to each member of the Florida 39 delegation to the United States Congress.