[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 21 (Monday, February 9, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S849-S850]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN VIOLENCE

  Mr. MURPHY. Madam President, this is the first time I have come to 
the floor to speak on this issue while the Senator from Iowa has been 
presiding. Over the last 2 years, since the mass tragedy in my State, 
in Sandy Hook, CT, I have come to the floor once every week or so to 
give voice to victims of gun violence all across this country. I have 
told the story of the beautiful 6- and 7-year-olds as well as the 
teachers and professionals who were killed that day.
  The fact is that every day across this country there are two to three 
Sandy Hooks that happen. There are 86 people killed by guns every day 
in this country, 2,600 a month, and over 30,000 a year. The statistics, 
unfortunately, have not compelled this body to action. We have done 
nothing--zero--about this national tragedy since Sandy Hook. That is a 
stain upon the conscience of this body that is impossible to erase. My 
hope is that by coming to the floor and speaking about who these people 
actually are, maybe it will prompt us to have a conversation about how 
we can make sure these numbers aren't eliminated; they are never going 
to go away but to make sure they are lower, that they are less than 
these numbers, the highest in the developed world.
  Let me speak first about an extraordinary young man, 44 years old, 
who was killed on January 20--just about 2 weeks ago--in Boston, MA. 
His name was Dr. Michael Davidson. He was shot by a gunman who walked 
into Brigham and Women's Hospital. The gunman was the relative of 
someone who had been under the care of Dr. Davidson who clearly had 
some major illness that prompted him to think he could solve his grief 
by shooting the doctor who had cared for his loved one. Dr. Davidson 
was known at Brigham and Women's Hospital for his gentle way

[[Page S850]]

with patients and their families and his willingness to operate on the 
most delicate hearts. He used to lie awake at night worrying about his 
patients. He was always receiving letters about the great care he 
provided. He wanted to be a cardiovascular surgeon from the time he was 
a little boy, which is a pretty exceptional thing. As renowned as he 
was as a physician, what he truly will be remembered for was for being 
a father to three children, and he and his wife were waiting for their 
fourth to arrive, due this April.
  At his funeral nearly 1,000 people were there to hear his wife say:

       By now, you've all heard that my husband, Michael Davidson, 
     was a superb physician. Perhaps, most importantly, he cared 
     immensely for his patients and their families. That is why 
     the fact that a patient's family member would take Michael 
     away from us makes it all the more devastating.

  A brilliant surgeon and a wonderful father taken away from us at age 
44 in Boston, MA.
  Everyone by now has heard the story from December 20, where two New 
York City police officers were killed by a mentally ill man who drove 
to New York with the intention of killing police officers. Wenjian Liu 
had been in this country almost 20 years to the day--an American dream 
story personified. His family came to this country from China to seek a 
better life. He came here on Christmas Eve, 1994. He wanted to be a 
police officer because he wanted to give back to his community. Liu 
once said:

       I know that being a cop is dangerous but I must do it. If I 
     don't do it and you don't do it, then who is going to do it?

  It is that kind of commitment that was shown by him that day by the 
very fact that he was in the car. He wasn't scheduled to work, but he 
volunteered to work a fill-in shift when a fellow officer was late. 
That is just how he was.
  Rafael Ramos, otherwise known as Ralph Ramos, was in that car as 
well. He wanted to be a police officer so badly that when he was 
preparing to join the police academy, he took a petition door to door 
throughout his whole neighborhood asking for his neighbors to testify 
to his character. He is remembered as a good police officer but also as 
someone who shoveled all the sidewalks in his neighborhood, took his 
two boys to a nearby park over and over to play basketball, always with 
a smile on his face. He was hours away from becoming a lay chaplain. 
One of his dreams was to go into the ministry. He is remembered by 
friends and family as someone committed to his family, committed to his 
job, but also committed to his faith.

  These two police officers were killed by a man named Ismaaiyl 
Brinsley. He was a deeply mentally ill man, someone who had tried to 
commit suicide and who had become completely isolated from his family 
and from his peers. When I read his story, it struck me as not 
completely dissimilar from the story in Newtown, CT, Adam Lanza. Adam 
Lanza was a deeply troubled, deeply mentally ill young man who became 
isolated from his peers and from his family. We can't completely 
understand what caused him to do what he did that day, nor what Mr. 
Brinsley was thinking in his head when he drove to New York to carry 
out those heinous murders.
  What we know is we have largely abandoned the mentally ill in this 
country. We lock them up in prisons rather than treating their 
underlying illnesses. Over the course of the last half a decade, 4,000 
inpatient psychiatric beds have been closed all across this country, 
forcing more of the mentally ill out on the streets and into prison and 
into crisis. You know, the Federal law authorizing the funding we send 
to mental health work in this country--SAMHSA, that is the agency--has 
not been reauthorized in a decade. We haven't even debated mental 
health policy on the floor of this Senate for a decade. No wonder we 
have a system that is in crisis.
  It means in the absence of Federal leadership, private organizations 
are stepping up to the plate. Sandy Hook promised--the group of parents 
of many of those children who were killed has taken up a cause called 
No One Eats Alone. It is a wonderful cause in which students in high 
school, middle school, and elementary school cafeterias are asked to 
seek out one or two children who often eat alone, who are socially 
isolated at school, and to reach out and do small things such as 
sitting with them during lunch to remove some sense of social isolation 
that comes often with children who bring mental illness or learning 
disabilities to school.
  That effort is admirable, and it will make a difference. But it 
speaks to the fact those groups have to step in and do things such as 
the No One Eats Alone campaign because Congress isn't stepping up to 
the plate and doing anything about these numbers: 31,000 a year, 2,600 
a month, 86 a day. You know what my feelings are on this. I don't think 
it is just about mental health programming and funding. I think it is 
ridiculous 90 percent of Americans think you should have to go through 
a background check in order to buy a gun, yet we still won't move 
forward with expanded background checks, and the majority of Americans 
think that dangerous assault weapons should be for the police and for 
our military and not be able to get into the hands of young, troubled 
men such as Adam Lanza to be used in mass murder.
  In the absence over the next 2 years of our ability to come to an 
agreement on changing our gun laws so they reflect where the vast 
majority of the American public is, let's at least take on the mental 
health crisis in this country. Let's at least decide we are going to 
plus-up resources for community mental health providers. We are going 
to rebuild inpatient capacity. We are going to recognize that as angry 
as we are at people such as Ismaaiyl Brinsley and of young men such as 
Adam Lanza, there is a story there of neglect that if we address we can 
lower these numbers even without changes over the next 2 years in our--
I would argue--very backward national background check laws.
  I thank you for listening and some of my colleagues for being on the 
floor today. I know we have a number of people who want to speak. I 
will continue to come to the floor so my colleagues can hear the 
stories of people such as Officer Ramos, Officer Liu, and heroes such 
as Dr. Michael Davidson so that maybe the voices of these victims can 
prompt us to action.
  I yield the floor.

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