[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 23 (Thursday, February 27, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1759-S1761]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Kohl):
  S. 380. A bill to prohibit foreign nationals admitted to the United 
States under a nonimmigrant visa from possessing a firearm; to the 
Committee on the Judiciary.


               Empire State Building Counterterrorism Act

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce with Senators 
Kennedy and Kohl the ``Durbin-Kennedy Empire State Building Counter-
Terrorism Act of 1997.''
  This legislation is spurred by the recent tragedy at the Empire State 
Building where a man in this country on a tourist visa shot and killed 
Chris Burmeister, a young Danish tourist, wounded six and then turned 
the gun on himself.

[[Page S1760]]

  But this bill is about much more than that one tragedy. It is an 
effort to address a real problem and to pass a sensible measure to deal 
with it. The shooting at the Empire State Building has sadly served to 
reveal a glaring gap in our laws--a gap that any would-be terrorist 
could walk through.
  The fact is that any foreign national who is coming into the United 
States on a tourist visa will probably pass through several airport 
security checks to determine whether or not he is carrying a firearm. 
But as we have learned in the tragedy at the Empire State Building, 
that foreign tourist can slip through our Nation's laws and can 
probably buy a gun once here in the United States more easily than you 
or I could.
  The motivation for the killing in New York is not clearly terrorist 
in nature. But I do not want to wait until a terrorist exploits these 
loopholes in order to act. Let us close the gap now.
  Let me briefly explain the problem. Currently, more than 20 million 
people a year come into the United States on nonimmigrant visas. Nearly 
1 million of them came in via Chicago last year. And by the way, that 
number does not include people from Mexico and Canada. There are more 
than 50 types of nonimmigrant visas, including tourist visas, work 
visas, student visas, and diplomatic visas. These visas are issued to 
people who do not intend to reside permanently in the United States and 
they are issued without any kind of criminal background check of the 
applicant.
  Under the Brady law, anyone who wants to buy a gun in this country 
has to undergo a criminal background check. In the last 28 months, this 
requirement has stopped more than 186,000 illegal gun purchases. 
Seventy percent of those denied were felons.
  But what the Empire State Building shooting reveals is a gap in this 
law. Someone who just came to the United States on a tourist visa 
clearly does not have a criminal record in this country. Yet he or she 
may have such a record in their country of origin. The Brady bill 
cannot catch them since we do not search criminal records in foreign 
countries. So the tourist with a criminal record can easily get a gun.
  It is frightening to anticipate the damage that a foreign terrorist 
could wreak by exploiting this gap. But closing this loophole is easy. 
And we should do it now. Not later.
  The measure I propose is straightforward. It bars people who have 
come to this country on nonimmigrant visas from being able to purchase 
or possess a gun.
  Let me emphasize that the vast majority of the people who come to 
this country on nonimmigrant visas do not have any kind of criminal 
background and do not intend to buy guns or harm anyone. And that is 
why the legislation has two important and sensible exceptions.
  First, foreign nationals who enter this country on nonimmigrant visas 
and who are here for legitimate sporting purposes, law enforcement 
purposes or diplomatic purposes will be exempt. It only makes sense 
that someone who is here to take part in a shooting competition should 
be able to bring in their gun.
  The second exception allows people here on nonimmigrant visas to buy 
a firearm if they have been in this country for 6 months and if they 
can prove that they do not have a criminal record in their country of 
origin.
  Mr. President, this is a rational piece of legislation. We are all 
concerned with the growing terrorist threat in our country. No one who 
has followed the news in the last decade can be unaware of the fact 
that our Nation is a terrorist target. Well, we should not be putting 
guns in the hands of terrorists. This bill will stop that from 
happening.
  I hope all of us can work quickly to pass this measure.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, the killings at the Empire State Building 
last Sunday were the shots heard 'round the country. The entire Nation 
was horrified to learn of the senseless assault on seven tourists, and 
hopefully we will be shocked into action to close the flagrant loophole 
in the gun laws that allowed the attack to happen. It's preposterous 
that a deranged alien could arrive in this country, set up temporary 
residence in a motel, buy a semiautomatic handgun, and start blasting 
away in a crowded tourist site. The gunman at the Empire State Building 
killed himself. One other person died, six were injured, and countless 
others on the observation deck at the time bear the psychological scars 
from this senseless atrocity. Most of the victims were visitors from 
other countries--France, Switzerland, and Argentina--and were there 
seeing one of the most famous symbols of America.
  Imagine the nightmare for a 16-year-old French tourist who saw both 
her parents shot, or the 10-year-old girl from the Bronx whose father 
was wounded. The thoughts and prayers of all Americans are with the 
victims and their families.
  The shock and disbelief turned to anger as we learned more about the 
circumstances of the shooting. The gunman, Abu Kamal, was in the United 
States on a tourist visa, and was easily able to purchase a Berreta 
semiautomatic handgun in Florida, even though there is a 90-day 
residency requirement under Federal law before aliens can purchase a 
handgun.
  The current gaps in Federal law are appalling. A foreign national 
can come to the United States on a tourist visa, or a work visa, and 
then obtain a handgun legally with ease. There is virtually nothing to 
stop a terrorist from entering the United States on a tourist visa, and 
then purchasing a supply of weapons legally in the United States for 
use in a terrorist activity. There is no legitimate reason why someone 
who is in the United States temporarily should be able to purchase or 
carry a firearm here.

  Senator Durbin and I are introducing a bill today to close this 
gaping loophole. Our bill will prohibit foreign nationals who are in 
the United States on a nonimmigrant visa from possessing a firearm. 
Foreign nationals here on a tourist visa, or a temporary work visa, 
would be prohibited from carrying a firearm, and dealers would be 
prohibited from knowingly selling them a firearm. The INS already 
provides immigration information to law enforcement authorities 
conducting background checks on gun purchasers, so they are well-
positioned to provide this additional information to firearms dealers.
  The bill does not apply to permanent residents. In addition, a series 
of sensible exceptions will permit certain foreign nationals who are in 
the United States temporarily to carry a firearm. For example, foreign 
nationals performing official State functions, such as bodyguards and 
other Embassy personnel, would be exempted. Foreign nationals who are 
coming to the United States to go hunting would also be exempted. The 
Justice Department would have the discretion to grant additional 
exemptions to qualified applicants.
  We intend to address in future legislation another major aspect of 
the gun violence problem in America--which is the widespread disparity 
between gun control laws in various States. It will be impossible to 
stop guns from coming into New York or Massachusetts, or elsewhere, if 
we don't solve this problem. Fifteen percent of the gun crimes 
committed in New York City in 1995 involved guns traced to Florida. 
Gun-running will always be a profitable business, as long as some 
States make it as easy to buy guns as to buy groceries. We must address 
this larger problem, or we will continue to suffer these senseless acts 
of violence.
  This bill cannot undo the tragedy last Sunday at the Empire State 
Building. But we can prevent future similar tragedies by closing the 
loopholes that exist in current Federal law that enable foreign 
nationals to obtain firearms too easily. I urge my colleagues to 
support this sensible and needed proposal.
  Mr. President, I commend the Senator from Illinois for his forceful 
statement in support of this legislation which will address a gaping 
loophole that exists in the gun laws and which he has ably explained on 
the floor of the Senate this afternoon where individuals would be able 
to come into the United States on a temporary visa and be able to 
purchase not just perhaps one weapon but a whole series of weapons and 
be able to use them for whatever purposes they might want here in the 
United States or perhaps take them outside of the United States. This 
is a gaping loophole. With the information that is being acquired by 
the INS, there is no reason it cannot be made available to gun dealers 
around the

[[Page S1761]]

country with a minimum amount of interference in their ability to sell 
guns in conformance with other provisions of the law.
  I think this is a really important piece of legislation, and I 
welcome the opportunity to work with the Senator. Hopefully, we will 
have it acted on as well as the other provisions that are before the 
Senate dealing with the massive movement of weapons from State to 
State. In my own State of Massachusetts, about 80 percent of the 
weapons that are used in crimes of violence are imported. As good as we 
have, in terms of the local and State control, we are not able to 
control it and deal with the issues of providing security to our people 
in our State.
  But I thank the Senator and welcome the chance to join with him and 
look forward to working with him on the legislation.
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