[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 148 (Thursday, October 8, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7228-S7229]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN VIOLENCE

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, when I was young and going to grade 
school, we feared the bomb. We were in a cold war. We were given duck-
and-cover drills to get under our desk just in case there might be a 
nuclear attack on the United States of America. That is imprinted in my 
mind to this day--the fear which we had about this threat to our 
safety.
  I wish to read a commentary that is making the rounds with wide 
circulation by a mother who talks about a similar concern for her 
children. She writes:

       Two weeks ago, my second and fourth grade daughters came 
     home from school and

[[Page S7229]]

     told me they'd a ``code red drill in case someone tries to 
     kill us. We had to all hide in the bathroom together and be 
     really quiet. It was really scary but the teacher said if 
     there was a real man with a gun trying to find us, she'd 
     cover us up and protect us from him. [Her little boy] started 
     crying. I tried to be brave.''

  This mother goes on to write:

       My 3-year-old nephew had the same drill at his preschool in 
     Virginia. Three-year-old American babies and teachers--hiding 
     in bathrooms, holding hands, preparing for death. We are 
     saying to teachers: Arm yourselves and fight men with assault 
     weapons because we are too cowardly to fight the gun lobby. 
     We are saying to a terrified generation of American 
     children--WE WILL NOT DO WHAT IT TAKES TO PROTECT YOU. WE 
     WILL NOT EVEN TRY. So just be very quiet, hide and wait. Hold 
     your breath. Shhh.

  In the year 2013, the number of American police officers shot dead in 
the line of duty was 27--27, in 2013. In 2013, the number of 
preschoolers--that is, children under the age of 4--who were shot dead 
was 82; 27 American police officers, 82 children under the age of 4 
were shot dead. We need to do better as a nation.
  When I heard on the news this last Saturday that the monstrous 
tragedy in Oregon was the 45th--45th--school shooting this year in 
America, it broke my heart, and, more, it angered me.
  In just a short while, in a few minutes, Members of the Senate 
Democratic caucus will come together outside of this building to talk 
about the need for America to take action to deal with gun violence. 
There are so many aspects of it.
  I am honored to represent the city of Chicago, but having met with 
Mayor Rahm Emanuel yesterday, we have seen a 20-percent increase in gun 
violence and deaths this year, and in Milwaukee, a 100-percent increase 
over last year. In scores of other cities, there is the same 
phenomenon. The city of Chicago and many others will be flooded with 
guns.
  When I met with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and 
Explosives in Chicago on Monday, I asked them: Where are all these guns 
coming from? And they told me they have analyzed the crime guns seized 
in the most violent areas of Chicago, and they found that 40 percent of 
those guns came from gun shows in Lake County, IN, just across the 
border from Chicago--40 percent of guns. We also know that we have a 
phenomenon where girlfriends and friends and family will go buy guns, 
because the criminal--the felon who wants to use those guns to 
terrorize and rob and kill--couldn't pass the test for purchasing a 
gun. It is known as a straw purchase. The girlfriend buys the gun and 
hands it over to the boyfriend who goes out and kills somebody. Well, 
there are things we can do to change this. We need to close the gun 
show loophole. It makes no sense that we don't even check the 
backgrounds of people who fill their trunks and their cars with 
firearms and ammunition at these gun shows. And yet when it comes to 
Federal licensed dealers, there has to be a background check. This gap 
in coverage accounts for 40 percent of the crime guns in the most 
dangerous neighborhoods in Chicago. So the gun show loophole needs to 
be closed.
  We also need to make it clear that if you are going to make a straw 
purchase of a gun and do so for the purpose of giving it to someone who 
is going to use it in the commission of a crime, you will pay a heavy 
price for that, too.
  I grew up in a family with a lot of members of my family owning 
firearms in downstate Illinois. It was common for families to go 
hunting, to go out for target practice, and there was a gun cabinet in 
most homes. When a little boy, sometimes a young girl, reached a 
certain age, they were taken out in a rite of passage to go hunting for 
the first time. It is a part of the culture where I grew up, and it is 
an acceptable part of the culture when those guns are used responsibly 
and safely.
  I don't know a member of my family who would object to the following 
statement: No one who is a convicted felon or mentally unstable should 
be allowed to buy a gun in the United States. I don't know of a member 
of my family who would object to the notion that if you are going to 
buy a gun so someone you know can use it to commit a crime and kill 
someone, you are going to be punished. Those are the two things that we 
should start with when it comes to reducing gun violence. Those two 
provisions are not going to hurt any legitimate, responsible, legal gun 
owner. But they are going to keep guns out of the hands of those who 
would misuse them.
  We have to restore some sense of order in this country, and we have 
to realize that when we reach the point that 3- and 4-year-olds are 
being killed in larger numbers each year by guns than even those brave 
men and women who serve in our police departments--when it has reached 
that point--clearly, Congress has to act. For Congress to act, we need 
to hear from the American people. If they share these feelings--if they 
share the feeling--we need to move forward as a nation and stop this 
senseless tragedy.
  I hope that after we gather today on the floor, Members of the Senate 
will come together and talk about this issue, and that across America 
people will join us in this effort.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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