[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 107 (Wednesday, July 24, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5898-S5899]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN VIOLENCE

  Mr. MURPHY. On July 20, a few days ago, we had a pretty somber 
anniversary in this country. Senator Bennet came down to acknowledge 
the occasion. It was the 1-year anniversary of the shooting in Aurora, 
CO, in which a young man killed 12 individuals and wounded 58 others 
when he walked into a crowded movie theater at a midnight showing of 
``The Dark Knight Rises.'' This, once again, showed the vulnerability 
of this Nation when the Congress refuses to act on the issue of 
preventing gun violence.
  I have come down virtually every week--not, frankly, as often or as 
regularly as Senator Whitehouse has on the issue of climate change, but 
in the short time I have been in the Senate I have tried to come down 
to the floor virtually every week to talk about the victims of gun 
violence. Today it is an apt moment to recognize the victims in Aurora, 
who now have been lost for over a year.
  This number represents something different. On December 14, our world 
in Connecticut was absolutely shattered by a global tragedy in which 26 
people, adults and children, including 7-year-olds, died in a splatter 
of gunfire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, as well as six of the 
professionals who were charged with protecting them.
  What has happened since December 14 is, frankly, in a lot of ways 
even more egregious, even more unconscionable, even more difficult to 
swallow than what happened on that day, and that is that 6,497 people 
have died from guns since December 14 in, frankly, every manner.
  There have been more mass shootings, accidental deaths, and suicides. 
There have been instances of one-on-one urban violence, suburban 
violence, and family-on-family violence. What has happened is this 
country has become kind of numb to it. We have to accept that every day 
we are going to be able to pick up a paper, and somewhere across this 
country there is going to be upward of 30 or 40 people who have died at 
the hands of guns at a rate that we can't find anywhere else in the 
civilized world. We just kind of accept it.
  The number is startling. Since December 14, almost 6,500 people have 
died of gun violence. But we just can't settle on that number. We have 
to talk about who these people are. I am trying to lend some voice to 
the victims of gun violence every week on the floor of the Senate to 
try to spur the Senate to action because I have become resolved that 
the numbers aren't enough.
  Apparently, this number isn't big enough for the Senate to do 
something so that maybe if we humanize these tragedies, that might do 
the trick.
  A.J. Boik was described as a ball of joy by his friend Jordan. He had 
just graduated from high school, and he was looking forward to 
attending the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in the fall. He 
wanted to be an art teacher and wanted to teach others the joy he felt 
for art.
  He was known as a big personality, so much so that after he was 
killed in that movie theater in Aurora, over 1,000 people came to his 
funeral. Among those mourners were his girlfriend who was there in the 
theater the day he was shot.
  Matthew McQuinn was one of the heroes that day. He was there with his 
girlfriend Samantha and her brother Nick Yowler. When the shooter came 
into the theater and started spraying bullets, Matthew, as well as 
Nick, attempted to shield Samantha from the bullets.
  Samantha survived but Matthew did not. He was working in a Target, 
which is where he actually met his girlfriend when they were working at 
another Target. He was remembered by his coworkers very fondly. He died 
that day saving a life.
  Also a victim that day was PO3 John Thomas Larimer. He was one of two 
Active-Duty servicemembers who died as a result of that mass shooting. 
His girlfriend Kelley Vojtsek, whose life was saved, said this:

       John and I were seated in the middle area. When the 
     violence occurred, John immediately and instinctively covered 
     me and brought me to the ground in order to protect me from 
     any danger.

  In that act, he saved his girlfriend, but he was struck with a bullet 
that ended his life.
  Alex Sullivan was 27 years old. His friends called him a gentle 
giant. He was ringing in his 27th birthday, in fact, by going to the 
premier of ``The Dark Knight Rises.'' His family said he always had a 
glowing smile on his face. He made friends with everybody. He was a 
huge movie buff, a comic book geek--as his family called him--and the 
New York Mets. The Sunday following his attack would have been his 1-
year wedding anniversary.

  Micayla Medek was called Cayla by her friends. She loved her friends 
and going out with her friends. That is what she was doing when she 
went out that evening to see this movie. Her family didn't find out she 
had been killed that day until 20 hours after the shooting. They had 
spent that evening and morning driving from hospital to hospital hoping 
to get news she had survived.
  Veronica Moser-Sullivan was the youngest of the 12 people who were 
shot. She was 6 years old, not unlike the 20 6-year-old and 7-year-old 
children killed in Newtown. She was described as beautiful and 
innocent, excited about life. She was there that

[[Page S5899]]

evening because her family wanted to get her mind off of the recent 
passing of her grandfather. She had become consumed with sorrow over 
the passing of her grandfather. So as a treat her family brought her to 
the premier of this movie. She was going to start swimming lessons the 
following week.
  James Holmes walked into that movie theater with an AR-15-style 
rifle, which we have heard talked about over and over and over--the 
weapon of choice in mass shootings in this country. But just as 
important, he was armed with 100-round drums of ammunition. Why on 
Earth does this Senate allow for the continued legal sale of 100-round 
drums of ammunition? What possible legal reason could there be for the 
possession of 100-round drums of ammunition that go into an automatic 
weapon other than to kill as many people as possible as quickly as 
possible? There is no reason a hunter or sport shooter needs a 100-
round drum of ammunition. Yet we can't even get the votes to ban the 
sale of those deadly accessories to semiautomatic weapons.
  I get it. These 6,497 people didn't die at the hands of an assault 
weapon, they didn't die at the hands of a 100-round drum, never mind a 
30-round magazine, but these mass shootings are going to continue to 
happen. Frankly, the one that happened in Santa Monica not long ago 
barely made the headlines in this country. Three or four people dying 
at the hands of a semiautomatic weapon is nothing these days. Now there 
have to be 20 or 30 people die in order for it to be a big story. 
Expectations have changed because these shootings are becoming regular, 
normal occurrences. But we can't let this country become numb to mass 
shootings in the way I would argue we have become numb to the 6,500 
people who have died since December 14.
  I understand we tried and failed to get legislation passed through 
the Senate--supported by 90 percent of Americans--that would extend 
background checks to more sales of weapons, to make sure criminals 
don't have weapons, to make gun trafficking a crime in a way that it is 
not, to provide some more mental health resources, but we shouldn't 
give up. We shouldn't give up because there is going to be another 
Aurora, there will be another Sandy Hook if we do nothing, and 30 to 40 
people will still die every day if we stand by and continue to allow 
this kind of regular, everyday gun violence to be the background noise 
of this Nation.
  Maybe if the numbers don't move people, the stories of the victims 
will. Maybe that will be enough to finally prompt the Senate and the 
House of Representatives to action.
  I yield the floor.

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