My name is Christine Hunschofsky,
um, born and raised in Boston.
I was the mayor of Parkland
when we had our shooting in Parkland in 2018.
I had originally experienced gun violence when I was younger,
cause I grew up in the city.
Um, we’re friends,
we’re in the wrong place at the wrong time.
We’re drive by shootings that happened 10 minutes before. My.
My friends and I had been in a certain area,
and then here I was in this little suburb
that nobody had ever heard of in the state of Florida.
Um, the school diagonally across from where I live.
And it was one of the worst school mass shootings we’ve had.
And I lost several friends,
kids who played with my kids sports.
And, um,
now I’m in the statehouse,
and I do a lot with gun violence prevention,
do a lot with mental health,
do a lot with school safety.
And being here for me this year is incredibly special
because I know what’s on the line.
I know the trauma that remains in communities permanently, um,
once they’ve experienced gun violence,
something no one talks about.
Everybody thinks the kids did great,
everybody made it through,
and people move on. Um,
but the communities never move on.
So it’s so important that we tackle gun violence,
that we make sure that people are safe
no matter where they are, no matter what street they’re walking down,
no matter if they’re in the schools,
And the movie theaters. And, um,
this is the ticket to do that.
So that’s why I’m here today.
I’m also a woman. My mom and, um.
Harris Waltz ticket. It’s fantastic.
When you talk to people who have lost loved ones to gun violence,
their number one thing
is that they don’t want their loved one to be forgotten.
Hmm. And for anybody who’s been impacted by gun violence,
they don’t want anyone to ever go through this.
So when we make progress in those areas,
we are acknowledging and honoring those who are no longer with us
and those who are still living with the trauma every day.
And when we don’t deal with it,
we’re basically saying we don’t care.
And if we’re all about family values and we care about each other,
then we have to do something about gun violence.
Because it is absolutely insane
what some of our communities are going through
and what we as a country
are going through with this.
And it’s the perfectly appropriate word. Insane. Insane.
I cannot thank you enough for doing what you do,
and I hope that you have less to do in this area
over the rest of your life.
But I know the work must always continue
and that we have. And that we have less to do in this area.
Yeah. Cause this is on all of us.
This shouldn’t be an area we even need to be talking about.
Yes. Yes,
it’s It’s A I I, you know,
I’m in the imagination business.
I can’t imagine why this kind of thing is allowed to happen
over and over and over and over again.
It’s not a difficult issue either,
if you talk to people who are gun owners.
Not gun owners.
Universal background checks,
pretty much universal acceptance that that is.
Makes total sense. I mean,
there are so many things we can do that are so simple
that are just one more barrier
to making sure that we keep our community safe.
Real quick. Is there a direct action that people can take right now
around this issue that you want people to know about?
Yes. So people have to vote.
And you have to vote not just for president.
You also have to vote for who is your governor,
who is representing you in the state,
who’s representing you in Congress,
who’s representing you in the US Senate,
and who’s representing you in your local community.
So register to vote
and make sure you get educated on people’s positions
and vote in every single election up and down the ballot.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Bless you so much.
Thank you. God bless you.