[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 36 (Wednesday, March 13, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H1390-H1393]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    FIREARMS TRAFFICKING LEGISLATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2013, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Thompson) for 30 minutes.


                             General Leave

  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent 
that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their 
remarks on the subject of this Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Madam Speaker, I rise to call on my 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join with us and pass the 
bipartisan legislation to strengthen Federal penalties for straw 
purchasing of firearms. I'm a hunter and a gun owner, and I believe 
strongly in the Second Amendment. I support law-abiding Americans' 
right to own firearms, and nothing in this legislation infringes upon 
that right. This bill simply helps keep guns out of the hands of 
dangerous criminals who cannot legally buy guns on their own.
  I chair the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. Our task force 
has developed a comprehensive set of policy principles that will help 
reduce gun violence. To develop these principles, we met with virtually 
everyone who had an interest on this issue: Republicans, Democrats, the 
NRA, gun owners and gun safety groups, mental health experts, 
educational leaders, people from the video game and movie industries, 
hunting and sportsman's groups, law enforcement leaders, and the Vice 
President of the United States. Out of these meetings, one of the 
principles we developed dealt specifically with strengthening penalties

[[Page H1391]]

for gun trafficking and for straw purchasing. This is something we 
should all be able to agree on.
  At a hearing yesterday held by my colleague and friend, Mr. Cummings 
from Maryland, and one of his cosponsors, Mrs. Maloney from New York, 
we heard testimony from New York City fireman Ted Scardino. Mr. 
Scardino was wounded and two of his fellow firemen were killed when a 
gunman lured them to a house that that gunman had set on fire and then 
started shooting at them. The shooter had his neighbor buy the gun for 
him because he could not pass a background check.
  Mr. Scardino said yesterday:

       Putting a gun in someone's hand that isn't supposed to have 
     one must be stopped.

  So let's pass this bipartisan bill and let's stop it.
  I now yield to my colleague and good friend from Maryland, the author 
of this legislation and a leader on this issue, Mr. Cummings.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. I want to thank the gentleman for yielding, and I rise 
today to ask every Member of the House to join our bipartisan efforts 
to combat firearms trafficking and cosponsor H.R. 452, the Gun 
Trafficking Prevention Act.
  Earlier this year, I was honored to join colleagues on both sides of 
the aisle to introduce this commonsense proposal to make firearms 
trafficking a Federal crime for the first time and to impose stiff new 
penalties on straw purchasers. Since then, the number of cosponsors has 
swelled, adding both Republicans and Democrats. It has also gained 
bipartisan support in the Senate.
  Our bill has been endorsed by law enforcement officials across the 
country, and it does not affect the rights of any law-abiding gun 
owner. The only people that would be against this bill would be straw 
purchasers and those who are forbidden legally from possessing a gun.
  Just yesterday, we held a bipartisan forum, as my colleague has just 
mentioned, to hear the accounts of first responders who have been the 
victims of gun violence resulting from straw purchases or other 
trafficking incidents.

                              {time}  1900

  I want to reiterate what has been said by Mr. Thompson about Ted 
Scardino. He was a brave firefighter from New York who suffered 
multiple gunshot wounds and saw two of his colleagues gunned down on 
Christmas Eve when they were responding to a fire. Mike Chiapperini and 
Tomasz Kaczowka were those colleagues who are now no longer with us. 
Here is Tomasz. He was just a 19-year-old who had just joined the 
volunteer fire department.
  It turned out that the fire was set by a convicted felon, William 
Spengler. He previously served 17 years in prison for killing his 
grandmother with a hammer. Spengler ambushed these first responders and 
sprayed them with bullets. Despite his criminal record, Spengler walked 
into a gun store, alongside a straw purchaser, to obtain guns to be 
used to kill these brave men. As Mr. Scardino said yesterday, he 
supports our bipartisan legislation because he wants to keep guns out 
of the hands of deranged killers, create a deterrent to providing guns 
to dangerous criminals, and prevent more tragic deaths like these.
  After working on this legislation for several years, Mrs. Maloney and 
I have never been more hopeful that we can pass it with significant 
bipartisan support. I urge all my colleagues to cosponsor this bill.
  Mr. Thompson, just very briefly, one of the things that has been said 
over and over again--and we hear it from the NRA--is that we ought to 
deal with the laws that we already have. Well, right now, there's a 
phenomenal loophole with the laws that we already have.
  Law enforcement, by the way, brought this to the attention of our 
committee, and they didn't ask for a trafficking law--they begged for 
it. Because as was testified to yesterday in the hearing, those who 
want to commit some kind of crimes, they're always looking for what 
they call a hustle; they're looking for something to make their money 
off of.
  Witnesses told us yesterday--as a matter of fact, the head of the San 
Francisco police said that it has become easier to deal in guns and 
more lucrative than to deal in drugs. So a lot of folks that would 
normally be going to deal in drugs are now dealing in guns. Why? 
Because there is no dedicated trafficking law, and this is what our 
bill will do. It also will increase those penalties for straw 
purchasers.
  I want to thank the gentleman, by the way, for your hard work. You've 
done an outstanding job in bringing Members of the House together to 
forge ahead with regard to legislation to address these issues, and I 
want to thank you.
  Mr. THOMPSON of California. I thank the gentleman.
  I appreciate the fact that you provide clarity on the one issue, and 
that is that the critics of anything we try and do to prevent gun 
violence repeatedly state, Just enforce the laws that are on the books. 
Here, this gun trafficking proposal that you and Mrs. Maloney have 
introduced is, I think, illustrative of the fact that sometimes you 
actually need other laws. Because there are no laws on the books to 
prevent against something that leads to the tragedies that we heard 
about in your hearing yesterday and that, sadly, the folks in this New 
York area and the families of these slain individuals will have to live 
with for the rest of their life.
  I can't emphasize enough: there is no dedicated law on the book that 
prohibits trafficking of guns. People are trafficking in guns, and they 
are used to kill people. We have an opportunity, and I commend you and 
Mrs. Maloney for not only your dedication and your effort to bring this 
to an end, but the fact that you've reached out across party lines. You 
have a bipartisan coalition; you have bipartisan authorship of this 
bill recognizing that we've got to bring this to a stop.

  The only sad commentary that I have is one of our brave colleagues 
who was willing to stand up and take a position on this bill to prevent 
criminals from getting guns, has been under attack by some who have 
just mischaracterized his position, mischaracterized his dedication, 
mischaracterized his motives, and mischaracterized the bill that all of 
you are working so hard on.
  So thank you for being here tonight, And thank you very much for your 
tireless effort in bringing closure to this issue.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Thank you very much.
  Mr. THOMPSON of California. I would now like to yield to my friend 
and colleague from New York (Mrs. Maloney).
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Thank you so much for organizing 
this.
  I want to thank my dear friend and colleague, Mike Thompson, not only 
for his leadership here on the floor, but the great work that he has 
done as the leader of the House Democratic Gun Violence Prevention Task 
Force. One of the things that he underscores at all of our hearings and 
meetings is that he is himself a gun owner. He enjoys hunting; he 
enjoys having a gun for protection; he enjoys it for target shooting. 
But he also understands that certain guns are not for hunting; they're 
just for killing people, such as assault weapons, and that there are 
loopholes in our laws.
  I regret to inform you tonight that there has been another mass 
murder in New York yesterday, where a gunman shot down four law 
enforcement in upstate New York. Now, if we don't make changes, we can 
only expect more of the same. It was only 10 days after the tragic 
killing of 20 young innocent children in Connecticut that the tragedy 
happened in upstate New York.
  Now, the straw purchaser that bought the guns--the rifle and the 
assault weapon--for the felon that murdered two police officers and 
firemen, I doubt that that neighbor would have bought those guns for 
him if the law had been on the books that straw purchasers could be 
looking at 20 years for knowingly buying guns and giving them to a 
criminal or a person who could not legally have that gun.
  Now, this bill has been endorsed by 30 different law enforcement 
organizations. Law enforcement is asking us to give them the tools to 
get illegal guns out of the hands of criminals. This bill that I 
authored grew out of a hearing we were having on violence on the border 
of Mexico. The agents testified that guns were being shipped into 
Mexico that were then used to kill our border

[[Page H1392]]

agents. So I asked the question: Why don't we just stop the guns? At 
that point, the agents testified that they don't even bother to bring 
charges against straw purchasers because the laws are so weak. They 
call them a ``slap on the wrist,'' a paper violation, that you wouldn't 
be punished at all.
  So what we're trying to do with this bill is to make trafficking in 
guns to felons, to drug cartels, to gang leaders a crime--it's 
unbelievable that it's not a crime now--and to increase the penalties 
for the straw purchasers. I think it's reasonable, it's common sense, 
and, fundamentally, it will save lives in our country. It was 
introduced with Mr. Cummings, Mr. Meehan and Mr. Rigell. Mr. Rigell is 
a member of the NRA. Also, I think that Mr. Meehan was also a former 
leader in law enforcement, so he had really literally understood the 
need of it.
  At our hearing yesterday--and at the hearings we've had in the 
Government Reform and Oversight Committee--law enforcement is basically 
begging us, absolutely begging us to give them the tools to better 
protect Americans.
  I hope that we will listen to our chairman's plea, Mike Thompson's 
plea, that at least on this we can come together and forge a bipartisan 
effort to pass these two important bills. So I thank the gentleman for 
his leadership.
  Mr. THOMPSON of California. I thank the gentlelady for her 
dedication, for her hard work on this, and for her taking time to be 
here tonight to talk about this.
  You raised the issue and praised those on the other side of the 
aisle, many of whom have experience--one Member from Virginia, who is 
an NRA member, one from Pennsylvania, who is, I believe, a district 
attorney; extensive law enforcement background.

                              {time}  1910

  It's important that we have this type of across-the-aisle 
cooperation. As a matter of fact, the people of the United States of 
America, every one of us hears it every time we go home--we hear it in 
our townhall meetings, we can read it in our constituent mail, our 
friends tell us, our neighbors tell us: work together to solve the 
problems that we all face as Americans.
  The fact that we have folks on the other side of the aisle coming 
forward to work together and then they're demonized and they're 
criticized for doing this, all Americans need to speak out against 
this. When something like this happens, we need to let everyone know 
that, no, we want our Members of Congress to work together to solve 
these problems that threaten our communities, threaten our children, 
threaten our grandchildren, and threaten our neighborhoods. It's very, 
very important to do that.
  As the gentlewoman pointed out, I am a gun owner and I hunt, and I 
believe strongly in the Second Amendment. I'm not interested in giving 
my guns up, and I'm not going to ask any other law-abiding citizen to 
give their guns up. At the same time, I'm a father and I'm a 
grandfather, and my kids and my children deserve to live in a safe 
community. Two of my sons are first responders. One is a firefighter; 
another one is a deputy sheriff.
  When I sat through your hearing yesterday and listened to the 
testimony of the wounded firefighter talk about his colleagues who were 
killed--called to respond to a community catastrophe, a house on fire--
doing their job, doing what we ask these first responders to do--and 
they get there and they're ambushed by a sick deranged murderer who has 
a gun because somebody bought it for him, because it was illegal for 
him to buy it himself, he couldn't buy it himself. It was just terrible 
to relive this for the witnesses who were there and certainly eye 
opening for anyone who paid attention to what the possibilities are out 
there in any of our communities.
  Madam Speaker, I would like to yield time to a new Member of our 
House--someone who has been doing outstanding work, vice-chair of the 
Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, someone who brought with her not 
only an interest and a passion for this, but also an incredible 
constituency, because it was in her district that Sandy Hook took 
place--the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. Esty).
  Ms. ESTY. Thank you so much, Congressman Thompson, for organizing 
this Special Order and for your incredible leadership on these 
important issues that the country deserves to have a voice and deserves 
to have a vote.
  And I wanted to thank Congressman Cummings and Congresswoman Maloney 
for your important leadership on this very important issue that is 
truly a remarkable hole in the law that I think most people had no 
idea.
  These are the holes that we saw yesterday, because the holes in the 
law are allowing holes in the hearts of the families of America. Holes 
like this, shot with assault weapons, to brave firefighters who were 
responding to a fire on Christmas Eve, that's what this really means.
  This is a 19-year-old young man following in his family's footsteps 
and his lifelong dream to be a firefighter and instead was met with 
this, and that ended his life--a man who never should have had those 
guns.
  Yesterday, I had the pleasure of welcoming to Washington Team 26, a 
group of 26 cyclists from the town of Newtown, Connecticut, in my 
district, who rode to Washington in support of commonsense legislation 
to reduce and prevent gun violence. The Sandy Hook ride to Washington 
was a successful event. It was also emblematic of what we're seeing 
across the country in the wake of the tragedy in Newtown.

  Americans have been touched by the strength and love of the families 
and the people in Newtown in a way we have not seen in this country 
before. I can assure you, the Connecticut effect is not going away 
anytime soon because the American people are stepping up and making 
their voices heard for commonsense, reasonable regulations and laws to 
reduce and prevent gun violence. For far too long, for far too long, 
communities across this country, like West Webster, New York, and like 
Newtown, Connecticut, have paid for the price of inaction here in 
Congress. We cannot keep losing precious children and courageous police 
officers and brave first responders and many other innocent lives 
because we have allowed, and we are allowing, guns to be put into the 
hands of people who do not have permission and do not have the right to 
have them.
  It is shocking and it is wrong that we do not have vigorous Federal 
laws making straw purchasing and trafficking in guns a Federal crime. 
We've learned today, and we learned yesterday in our hearing, that it 
is against the law to traffic in drugs, it is against the law to 
traffic in tainted food, but it is not against our Federal laws to 
traffic in illegal weapons in this country, and that is wrong and we 
need to fix it.
  That's the reason that the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act has 
bipartisan support in the House. That is the same reason that this 
measure has the strong support and backing and urging and pleading of 
the hardworking law enforcement officers in my State who are dealing 
with the consequences of illegal drugs, including the leadership of 
Connecticut Attorney General and my friend George Jepsen.
  There's a reason that law enforcement officials and groups around the 
country have been asking for us to pass this law. Few policies reflect 
commonsense, like keeping firearms out of the hands of criminals. If we 
are going to accomplish that goal, we must address this gaping hole 
with the lack of Federal laws punishing gun trafficking and straw 
purchasing.
  Now is the time to act. We have a real opportunity to enact and to 
fix this hole in the law and to prevent holes in the hearts of the 
American people. I'm very proud to be a cosponsor of the Gun 
Trafficking Prevention Act and the Straw Purchaser Penalty Enhancement 
Act to do just that.
  For the families of Newtown, for families across this great country 
who are affected by gun violence, for children and for police officers 
and first responders everywhere who put their lives on the line for us 
every day, and for all those whose lives are at risk today because of 
illegal guns, let's meet the call of the American people to strengthen 
the penalties for gun trafficking and straw purchasing.
  I urge my colleagues to support this very laudable legislation, and I 
urge members of the public to urge their Representatives to stand up 
for safety for our first responders for our communities.
  I thank my good friend, the gentleman from California, for yielding.

[[Page H1393]]

  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Thank you, Congresswoman Esty, and thank 
you for your work on the task force and for your work every day to make 
sure that we all come together to make our communities safer places to 
live, to work, to recreate, and to raise our families.
  One of the things, one of the beautiful benefits of doing this work 
for me has been the honor I've had in not only working with great 
dedicated people, yourself included, but meeting some of your wonderful 
constituents. Their passion is on fire in Connecticut. I've met with 
them many times with you, sometimes alone. We got another glimpse of it 
yesterday, as you mentioned, when Team 26 rode into Washington, D.C., 
rode all the way from your district to Washington, D.C., to call on all 
of us to work together to pass these bills to make our communities 
safer. They're wonderful folks, they're dedicated, they're hardworking, 
and I can understand why after watching you and experiencing your 
leadership on this issue. So thank you very much for all that you are 
doing.
  And I just want to remind folks that the American people want us to 
make our communities safer; they want us to pass sensible laws that 
will do this. And everyone will tell you we shouldn't allow criminals 
and the dangerously mentally ill to get firearms.
  Well, how in the world can you do that if you don't do some just real 
commonsense steps to make sure that doesn't happen?
  We're talking about a couple of them today--straw purchases and gun 
trafficking.

                              {time}  1920

  Who in the world could be opposed to stopping straw purchases? And 
that means just what it says. That means somebody buys a gun and gives 
it to somebody who's not allowed by law to own a gun, who is 
trafficking in guns, making a living, making a profit, making a 
business out of buying guns and then shipping them someplace, taking 
them someplace, introducing them to a community where they're going to 
be used for unlawful purposes. No one could possibly be against that.
  Background checks is another one. As you know, our task force will be 
holding a hearing this Friday on background checks. Ninety-four percent 
of the American people believe we should pass background checks. 
Eighty-four percent of the NRA members think we should pass a 
background check bill. We're going to have an opportunity next week 
when I introduce legislation to put in place background checks for the 
American people to call their Representatives and let them know. This 
is important stuff. We need to have that check in place so people who 
are dangerously mentally ill, people who are criminals, if they try and 
buy a gun from someone selling that gun, it will be flagged if they're 
not allowed to have them and they'll be stopped, at least in that case. 
They may try and find other ways to do it, but it's incumbent upon us 
to do everything we can to make sure that that doesn't happen again.
  I'm now going to yield to my friend and colleague, the vice chair of 
the task force, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott).
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I thank you for yielding, and most of all I 
thank you for your leadership in the firearms task force, the 
prevention of gun violence.
  You've done a tremendous job in bringing diverse views into focus to 
respond appropriately to the children who were murdered senselessly in 
Newtown, Connecticut. They were young people, babies, whose bodies were 
riddled with bullets. I think finally we have concluded that we have to 
do something in response to the murders.
  One of the things we have to do is reduce violence generally--and 
violence prevention. This week I'll be introducing the Youth PROMISE 
Act, which has a proactive approach to make sure that young people get 
on the right track and stay on the right track.
  We have to deal, as you have indicated, with the mental health 
challenges. Those with mental health challenges have to get services, 
because if they're allowed to roam the streets with untreated mental 
health problems, you have a lot of difficulties.
  There have to be some firearm-specific situations, such as an assault 
weapons ban, limiting the size of magazines, background checks, but 
also straw purchases, people who buy firearms for others knowing they 
could not buy them for themselves. Violating the law and circumventing 
the good background check processes we have has to be dealt with.
  So I thank you for your leadership. I thank you for all that you have 
done. We have a lot that we can do in response to Newtown, and we 
expect to do it.
  Mr. THOMPSON of California. I thank the gentleman for being here 
tonight and for his leadership.
  Madam Speaker, I'll end where I started. As I said, we have to come 
together to work on these issues. These are the issues that the 
American people want us to find solutions for. Let's close these 
loopholes, make sure that illegal gun activity doesn't take place, and 
protect the Second Amendment. You know I'm four-square on that, and 
we'll do everything we can to make sure that that happens. These are 
commonsense issues, and we should find cooperation across the aisle.
  As I said, I'll end where I started. I call on my colleagues on both 
sides of the aisle to join together and to pass these bills that both 
protect our Second Amendment rights and help make our communities safer 
places in which to live, work, play, and raise our families.
  Madam Speaker, thank you, and I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________