[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 178 (Wednesday, December 9, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H9084-H9085]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      DENYING FIREARMS AND EXPLOSIVES TO DANGEROUS TERRORISTS ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Connecticut (Ms. Esty) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, we are approaching the third anniversary of 
the day 20 6- and 7-year-old children and 6 brave educators were gunned 
down at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in my district in Newtown, 
Connecticut.
  Many advocates and families from Newtown are here in Washington this 
week. They are joining with survivors and families of victims all 
across America. We are holding a vigil tonight--the third, sadly. The 
third annual national vigil to end gun violence

[[Page H9085]]

will be held at St. Mark's Church near Capitol Hill. The vigil will be 
held from 7 to 8:30 p.m., and I encourage all of my colleagues and 
staff members to join us.
  Mr. Speaker, the Members of this House should spend more time with 
the families and victims of gun violence. I say that because, in the 3 
years since the shootings at Sandy Hook, the majority of this House 
hasn't even allowed a single vote--not one vote--on gun safety 
legislation. It has now become the habit that, after every new, tragic 
mass shooting that claims the lives of more innocent Americans, this 
House merely acknowledges a moment of silence and then goes back to 
business as usual.
  I am heartsick, and I am outraged. Every time one of these mass 
shootings happens, people are retraumatized in my communities: the 
families, the first responders who went into the school, all of us. It 
is appalling and it is unacceptable that this keeps happening in 
America, and this Congress, the American Congress, does nothing.
  Mr. Speaker, the time has passed for moments of silence. It is time 
for days of action. As vice chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention 
Task Force, I am working on several commonsense measures, bills that 
would help prevent gun violence in this country while respecting and 
protecting the Second Amendment. It is time for congressional leaders 
to bring these bills to the floor to allow a vote.
  The cost of the inaction is being paid by American families all 
across this great Nation. The families of victims and survivors of gun 
violence deserve a vote. They deserve a vote on a bipartisan bill that 
will close background check loopholes and save lives. They deserve a 
vote on legislation to end the prohibition on Federal research funding 
for public health research on our gun violence epidemic, and they 
deserve a vote on a bipartisan bill this week to close the loophole 
that allows suspected terrorists to walk into a gun shop and legally 
buy a weapon.
  More than 2,000 suspects on the FBI terrorist watch list have 
successfully bought guns in the United States in the past 11 years. I 
am a cosponsor of the Republican bill to fix this. H.R. 1076, the 
Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act, would bar 
the sale or distribution of firearms to anyone the Attorney General has 
determined to be engaged in terrorist activities.
  The time for silence is over. We in Congress have a sworn duty to 
protect and defend the American people, but that is not what we are 
doing when we observe a moment of silence and do nothing.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the House bring up H.R. 
1076, the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 6, 2015, the House is in session solely for the purpose of 
conducting morning-hour debate. Therefore, that unanimous consent 
request cannot be entertained.
  Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, I will therefore stand quietly for the 
remainder of my time to protest the appalling silence and inaction of 
this House's refusal to take meaningful action to protect the American 
people from the ravages of gun violence.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.

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