[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 97 (Thursday, June 25, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S7064]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN VIOLENCE

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, the past few months have been marked by 
several high-profile, tragic shootings that have left families to 
grieve and communities to ponder why. While many of the details of 
these recent shootings vary tremendously, one fact remains constant, 
our current gun laws have failed to keep firearms out of the hands of 
those who should not have been able to acquire them.
  In 1983, James von Brunn, a white supremacist and Holocaust denier, 
was convicted of attempting to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve 
Board, after he was caught trying to enter a board meeting carrying 
multiple firearms. As a convicted felon, Mr. Von Brunn was legally 
barred from possessing firearms. Despite this fact, on June 10, Mr. Von 
Brunn walked into the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and 
fatally shot security guard Stephen T. Johns, a 6-year veteran of the 
facility, before being shot himself by other officers. Holding a .22-
caliber rifle, this man entered a museum that welcomes 30 million 
visitors and school children annually. Tragically, this type of 
violence is not uncommon.
  On June 1, a 24-year-old man shot two soldiers, PVT William A. Long 
and PVT Quinton Ezeagwula, outside of a military recruiting station in 
Little Rock, AR. Private Long, who had just completed basic training 
and was volunteering at the recruiting office before starting an 
assignment in South Korea, was killed in the shooting. The man accused 
in this incident was later found with two rifles and a handgun, despite 
being under investigation by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. The 
day before, a 51-year-old man with a history of mental illness walked 
into the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, KS, and shot Dr. 
George Tiller in the head while he served as an usher during Sunday 
morning services. The accused in this incident had been arrested by 
police in 1996, after being found with bomb-making material in his car.
  These senseless acts of gun violence frequently also target police 
officers. On April 4, a 23-year-old man, dishonorably discharged from 
Marine basic training, armed with three guns, including an assault 
rifle, ambushed and gunned down Officers Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle, 
and Paul Sciullo in Pittsburgh, PA. A fourth officer, Timothy 
McManaway, was shot in the hand. This shooting occurred just 2 weeks 
after a 26-year-old man, with a prior conviction for assault with a 
deadly weapon, turned two guns, including an assault rifle, on police 
officers in Oakland, CA. SGTs Mark Dunakin, Ervin Romans, Daniel Sakai, 
and Officer John Hege were fatally shot in what was the deadliest day 
for U.S. law enforcement since September 11, 2001.
  In the span of a few months, a security officer, a doctor, two 
soldiers, and seven police officers lost their lives. All devoted their 
professional lives to the protection of others; all gunned down by 
someone who should not have had access to a firearm. These are not 
uncommon events, but rather simply the latest high-profile shootings to 
capture national headlines. In a nation which suffers 12,000 gun 
homicides, 17,000 gun suicides, 650 accidental gun deaths, and another 
70,000 nonfatal gun injuries every year, there are still those who 
resist legislation aimed at putting an end to these tragedies. I urge 
my colleagues to act immediately and pass urgently needed commonsense 
gun legislation.

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