[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 105 (Tuesday, July 8, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4243-S4244]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN VIOLENCE

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, this last weekend in Chicago was 
memorable--memorable for the wrong reasons. This last weekend in 
Chicago, gun violence took the lives of 14 people and wounded 82.
  I am honored to represent Illinois. I am especially honored to 
represent a great city such as Chicago. But I am heartbroken to think 
about what happened this past weekend.
  Mayor Emanuel and Superintendent Gary McCarthy anticipated the Fourth 
of July weekend would be a challenge, and they dispatched hundreds of 
police to the streets of Chicago in an effort to avert this violence. I 
wouldn't say they failed, but I would say the tragedy that followed 
tells us we have a lot of work to do.
  I am sure Mayor Emanuel and all of the elected officials in Chicago, 
including Superintendent McCarthy, are looking over what happened this 
past weekend trying to think of what they can do to bring peace to the 
city and end the violence which has taken so many lives. They will be 
working overtime, and a lot of people will point the finger of blame 
and say they could have done more. I think the mayor would acknowledge 
he could have done more. But let me add, we all could have done more. 
It isn't just the city's responsibility that this kind of violence has 
occurred. It isn't just the misfortune of the city of Chicago that 
these lives were lost and that gun violence continues to plague us. It 
is a responsibility that goes far beyond the city of Chicago. It is a 
responsibility we have visited on this Chamber, of the Senate.

  How can we ignore gun violence in America wherever it occurs--in 
Chicago, in Washington, DC, across this country? What are we doing as 
Members of the Senate? What efforts are we making to make America a 
safer place to live? We have run away from it. We ran away from our 
responsibility when it comes to an honest, conscientious discussion 
about gun control.
  Some people are frightened of this issue. They think when you get 
near the Second Amendment, it is the third rail of politics, and that 
there are gun lobby groups out there just waiting to pounce on any 
Member who comes to the floor of this Senate and talks about changing 
our gun laws. That has been the case for a long time, and yet the 
American people, when you ask them about the basics, get it. They 
understand you can protect our Second Amendment rights to own and use 
firearms legally and responsibly and still put reasonable limits in 
place to keep guns out of the hands of people who will misuse them.
  Is there anyone who believes it is an infringement of constitutional 
rights to say that no one who has been convicted of a felony should be 
allowed to purchase a firearm in America? That makes sense.
  This weekend in Chicago convicted felons were out on the street with 
firearms firing away. We should do everything in our power to stop that 
from occurring. After all of the senseless tragedies which we have seen 
over the last several years--in Connecticut, in so many different 
places, even in the State of Illinois--is there anyone who argues with 
the premise that people who are so mentally unstable they cannot accept 
the responsibility of a firearm should not be allowed to buy a firearm? 
Two categories: Convicted felons, mentally unstable people, should not 
be allowed to purchase firearms in America, period.
  We had the vote--a bipartisan vote. Senator Joe Manchin of West 
Virginia is no liberal. Senator Manchin is a real conservative and pro-
gun. He joined up with Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who is about 
as conservative a Republican as you can find. Both Senators Manchin and 
Toomey came to the floor and said let us do background checks to make 
sure convicted felons and people who are mentally unstable cannot 
purchase a firearm. It failed. It failed because it faced a filibuster 
we couldn't break. The majority of Senators voted for it, but that 
wasn't enough because we needed 60 and we didn't have it. We lost a 
handful of Democrats and we attracted only a few Republicans to support 
us.
  To me, that is not the end of the debate. It is time for us to 
revisit that issue. It is time for us to have another vote on the floor 
of the Senate. I am not sure the outcome will be much different, but we 
owe it to the people of this country to continue this debate, and we 
owe it as fellow Senators, Democrats and Republicans, to search for 
solutions.
  Let me tell you another measure that could have helped in Chicago and 
other cities across America. There is a term called straw purchaser. A 
straw purchaser is someone who will walk into a gun store, present 
their identification, and purchase a firearm because they are legally 
entitled to purchase it, and then turn around and give it or sell it to 
someone who could not legally buy that same gun. Many times it turns 
out to be the girlfriend who is sent in to make the purchase. It is 
time to change that law. It is time to send out an all-points bulletin 
to the girlfriends of thugs that they are going to be sent away to 
prison for a long time for that kind of irresponsible act. Straw 
purchasers pass these guns into the community, and when they do, we 
know what happens: Innocent people die. That is another provision we 
should vote on on the floor of the Senate.
  If there are colleagues who want to stand and defend the right of 
straw purchasers to buy guns and turn them over to convicted felons, be 
my guest. I want to hear that debate. Tell me how that is an exercise 
of your constitutional right. It is not.
  I have thousands and thousands of people across Illinois who own 
firearms, who store them safely, use them legally, and enjoy their 
rights under the Constitution. Well, what I am suggesting today is not 
going to change

[[Page S4244]]

that at all, but they live in communities where people will misuse 
these firearms.
  We have a moral responsibility in the Senate to do everything we can 
to keep firearms out of the hands of people who misuse them. We have a 
legal and moral responsibility to accept this opportunity in the Senate 
to debate these issues. We cannot run away from them any more than we 
can run away from the violence in our streets. I am not alone in my 
feelings on this issue. There are other Senators who share them. It is 
time for us to stand up and speak up. We have a responsibility to the 
people we represent, to innocent people who are being threatened and 
killed across America.
  What happened in Chicago over the Fourth of July weekend is a wakeup 
call--another wakeup call--to the Senate to get about the business of 
our purpose here, the reason we were elected--to try to make America a 
better and safer place.
  Madam President, I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. MURRAY. I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The remarks of Mrs. Murray pertaining to the introduction of S. 2565 
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mrs. MURRAY. I yield the floor.

                          ____________________