[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 6 (Monday, January 11, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8-S10]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN VIOLENCE

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise to speak about the issue of gun 
violence and to commend the President for announcing last week a set of 
commonsense steps to make our country safer.
  The need for action to reduce gun violence in America is urgent. 
About 32,000 Americans are killed by guns each year. Every day on 
average 297 men, women, and children are shot, 89 of them fatally. Last 
year, by one count, there were at least 372 mass shooting incidents 
where 4 or more people were shot--more than one a day in America. In 
the city of Chicago

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alone last year, 2,939 people were injured by gunfire, and at least 88 
people have been shot so far this year, 2016. The 468 homicides in 
Chicago last year sadly led the Nation--a number larger than the number 
of fatalities in the cities of New York or Los Angeles, which are much 
larger cities. There is an epidemic of gun violence in America.
  Can you imagine if 32,000 Americans were dying each year from Ebola 
or from tainted drugs or at the hands of terrorists? Lawmakers would 
pull out all the stops to bring down those deaths. Compare the death 
toll from gun violence to the death toll from terrorism in the United 
States. According to the New America Foundation, since 9/11 a total of 
93 people have been killed by terrorist incidents in America--48 have 
been killed by rightwing extremists and 45 have been killed by Islamic 
terrorists. Americans are rightly concerned about the threat of ISIS 
terrorism, but we cannot ignore the threat posed by gun violence to the 
citizens of our Nation.
  Sadly, for years Members of Congress have just shrugged their 
shoulders as each day we hear another heartbreaking story of the 
victims of gun violence. It is baffling to me that Congress refuses to 
do anything about gun violence, especially since the American people 
overwhelmingly on a bipartisan basis agree on commonsense steps that we 
should take.
  For example, about 90 percent of Americans agree that a background 
check should be conducted before a gun is sold. Background checks 
through what is known as the FBI NICS system help ensure that the buyer 
is not a convicted felon, a domestic abuser, or a person with a history 
of serious mental instability or who is otherwise prohibited from 
buying a gun.
  Background checks work. Over 2 million gun sales have been denied to 
prohibited purchasers over the years. You think to yourself, why would 
a convicted felon be so stupid as to go in and try to buy a gun when he 
faces a background check? He does it anyway. They do it over and over, 
and 2 million times we have denied them weapons because they were 
prohibited by law because of their records.
  There are still loopholes that would allow many sales to take place 
without this basic background check, especially at gun shows and over 
the Internet. Think about how people made Christmas and holiday 
purchases this year. Many of us went to the Internet. That is exactly 
where people are going to buy firearms without background checks. When 
you have loopholes like these, it is easy to understand how dangerous 
people can get their hands on guns.
  Look at the way these loopholes have affected the city of Chicago. 
There is a flood of illegal guns coming into Chicago from Indiana, 
especially from Lake County, IN, which is right across the border from 
my State. Last Friday, the Chicago Tribune newspaper quoted Sheriff 
John Buncich of Lake County, IN, saying:

       Individuals are skirting federal law, especially at these 
     gun shows, whether they want to admit it or not. There's a 
     lot of illegal gun sales.

  The Tribune article went on to say:

       Buncich stressed he supports Second Amendment rights and 
     doesn't want to take guns from people. He noted, however, 
     that hundreds of guns from Lake County show up in Chicago 
     crimes every year. ``We need to do something to stem the 
     violence,'' Buncich said. ``It's not going to hurt the law-
     abiding citizen.''

  Last year I met with the head of the Chicago Field Division of the 
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Federal agency 
charged with enforcing our gun laws. He told me that in the highest 
crime neighborhoods of Chicago, when they confiscated the crime guns 
after the act, they found that as much as 40 percent of those crime 
guns were coming in from Indiana.
  Here is an example of how it happens. In 2014 a man named David 
Lewisbey of South Holland, IL, was sentenced for illegally trafficking 
hundreds of guns from Indiana to Chicago. The U.S. attorney's office 
said that over a 4-year period, Lewisbey ``routinely traveled to 
various gun shows in Indiana and purchased duffle bags full of guns 
that he brought back to Chicago.'' Lewisbey used a forged signature to 
procure an Indiana driver's license, and that was all he needed to fill 
up the trunk of his car with ammunition and guns and to drive that 
Skyway over into the State of Illinois and to sell those guns in 
Chicago to kill innocent people.
  During just one 48-hour period in 2012, Lewisbey bought 43 guns in 
Indiana and delivered them to a convicted felon on Chicago's South 
Side. Does anyone believe he had a Second Amendment right to buy 43 
guns with an illegal ID and sell them to a convicted felon in Chicago? 
I hope not.
  If everyone who sells guns for profit at Indiana gun shows had 
conducted background checks, it is highly unlikely that a trafficker 
like this would be able to get away with this for years. The system 
would have caught him. But because of the loopholes in the system, the 
weaknesses in the law, this individual was able to avoid detection and 
literally supply hundreds of crime guns in Chicago. Of course we know 
what happened to those guns--they turned into tragedy and havoc in the 
neighborhoods around that great city.
  I listened so many times when critics said: Well, look at Chicago, 
which has the toughest gun laws in the Nation, and look at all that gun 
violence.
  Here it is: in some parts of Chicago up to 40 percent of those crime 
guns are coming across the border with no background checks and sold in 
alleyways and dark corridors of our city. That isn't because of weak or 
ineffective Illinois and Chicago laws; it is because of our inability 
to make the Federal law stronger.
  Let's be clear. Background checks are not a heavy burden for law-
abiding gun owners. At most, they would cause a short delay in buying a 
gun. But when we have gaping holes in the background check system, we 
are basically handing guns to criminals on a silver platter.
  Sadly, this Congress has so far failed to even address this problem. 
We weren't able to overcome a Republican filibuster of the Manchin-
Toomey legislation in 2013. We tried again last month and fell short 
again.
  The President decided to do what he can within his lawful authority 
to close gaps in the system. Last week the President put forth guidance 
that makes clear that you can be engaged in the business of selling 
firearms even if you aren't a storefront operation. For too long people 
who sell guns for profit at gun shows or online have been able to avoid 
the requirement to conduct background checks. They were claiming they 
were just selling guns as a hobby. This man bought 43 guns at a gun 
show as a hobby and sold them to convicted felons in Chicago. The 
President's guidance makes clear that if you are repetitively buying or 
selling guns for profit, you need to get a gun dealer license and do 
background checks or you are breaking the law.
  Of course, the President's actions won't close the gun show and 
Internet loopholes altogether. That would take an act of Congress. But 
the President has made a move in the right direction, and it will help.
  The President took other important steps last week--clearly within 
his constitutional authority--that will help save lives. He is working 
to make the background check system faster by adding more FBI examiners 
and improving the system's technology. A faster system could have 
stopped the Charleston church shooter who killed nine worshippers last 
year in a horrific terrorist attack. This person was able to buy a gun 
under another loophole in the law because the background check hadn't 
been finished in 3 days. The default position, if you haven't cleared a 
background check, is that the gun is sold to you. That meant that this 
man picked up the gun when the background check wasn't completed and 
went out and caused this mayhem and took so many innocent lives.
  The President is also strengthening the reporting requirements so law 
enforcement will know when guns are lost or stolen during shipment.
  The administration is redoubling its efforts to improve mental health 
services and to make sure the background check system has complete 
records on those found to be mentally unstable.
  Finally, the President has sponsored research on gun safety 
technology. This is critical. Right now we have security features on 
our phones, computers, and cars to prevent thieves and unauthorized 
people from using them. Similar technology is available today so that 
an unauthorized user will not

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be able to fire a gun. That means a person can't steal a gun and resell 
it and a kid can't play with a gun and hurt himself or someone else.
  For reasons that cannot be explained, the gun lobby opposes gun 
safety technology, even calling for a boycott of any company that uses 
it. Now this administration is going to use its research dollars and 
purchasing power to promote safer gun technology. This could be a game 
changer when it comes to preventing gun accidents and deterring illegal 
trafficking.
  I commend the President for the reasonable, commonsense steps he has 
taken to combat the epidemic of gun violence. The steps he announced 
will not prevent all gun deaths--no single measure can--but they will 
help.
  I hope my colleagues in Congress will not take a step backward and 
try to undermine these basic, commonsense reforms with riders or 
appropriations restrictions. I am going to fight hard against the gun 
lobby if they try. I hope Congress will instead move forward, finish 
the job on background checks, and do all we can to reduce the high toll 
of gun violence in our communities.
  Over the weekend, I was visiting with friends and former colleague 
Mark Pryor of Arkansas. I went down to Stuttgart, AR. Anyone who is a 
duck hunter in the Midwest or in America knows the name of that town. 
Stuttgart, AR, is probably the capital of duck hunting in the Midwest 
or in the United States. The local radio station there is KWAK, giving 
an idea of their commitment to duck season 60 days of the year when 
Stuttgart comes to life with hunters from all over the United States 
and all over the world.
  Saturday afternoon I went to the largest sporting goods store, Mac's, 
and watched hundreds of men and some women in camouflage clothes 
getting ready to go out for the duck hunt. For them, it is not only a 
rite of passage, it is a way of life. They love it. You see the 
camouflage on everything in sight.
  Of course, when you go into Mac's, there are plenty of firearms for 
sale and other equipment that is needed so that you can hunt 
effectively and safely. You go in the store, and if you want to be a 
duck hunter in Arkansas, you first have to buy a license, which I did. 
Then you go through the ritual of making sure you have all the right 
equipment and getting ready to go out to hunt for ducks.
  There is not a single thing proposed by President Obama that will in 
any way slow down or stop those men and women who want to legally use 
their firearms for that sport--nothing. What the President is trying to 
do is to stop convicted felons and people who are so mentally unstable 
that they shouldn't be able to buy a firearm from having that 
opportunity.
  It turns out an overwhelming majority of firearm owners agree with 
the President. You would never know it, would you, as you hear every 
single Republican Presidential candidate condemn President Obama's 
actions.
  What a chasm there is in the culture between the people who are 
firearm owners and who enjoy that opportunity and responsibility and 
those who are on the political scene and ignore the fact that to 
preserve that right we should pass commonsense changes in the law to 
make them even more effective and make certain that people who misuse 
firearms do not have that opportunity.
  I hope to work with my colleagues in the Senate and both political 
parties to achieve the goal of protecting the rights of those who use 
firearms legally, safely, and responsibly within the confines of the 
law and to stop the illicit trafficking of guns that are taking over 
30,000 lives each and every year.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Ernst). The Senator from Ohio.

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