[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 100 (Wednesday, June 22, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H4062]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1045
                     DEBATE GUN CONTROL LEGISLATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Maine (Ms. Pingree) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. PINGREE. Mr. Speaker, we should not be here today.
  We should not have to come to the floor of the House of 
Representatives to beg the majority party just to debate and vote on 
commonsense gun legislation that the vast majority of Americans demand. 
We should not be living in a society where debate and even scientific 
research about gun violence are stifled and silenced by the majority in 
Congress, and we should not live in a country where gun violence takes 
such a toll on our citizens.
  But here we are, standing up for the millions of Americans who want 
Congress to do something and honoring the thousands of Americans who 
have lost their lives to gun violence. Here we are, standing up for our 
constituents who are tired of the excuses and want to hear a debate and 
want to see us take action on gun violence. And here we are today to 
represent the victims.
  The list is so long: Orlando, San Bernardino, Newton, Fort Hood, 
Charleston. The list goes on. Nine in a church, 23 in a restaurant, 26 
in an elementary school, and now 49 in a nightclub. The victims are men 
and women, Black and White, rich and poor, old and young.
  At a McDonald's in California, an 8-month-old baby was killed, along 
with his mother who was trying to shelter him when a gunman came in and 
started shooting.
  At a North Carolina nursing home, a 98-year-old grandmother was 
killed when a shooter came in and opened fire.
  Here in the United States, you are 10 times more likely to be killed 
by a gun than in any other developed Nation in the world. Of the 23 
richest and most developed countries in the world, we have, by far, the 
most gun violence. We have half the population of the other 22, but 90 
percent of the women killed by a gun are killed by a gun in the United 
States. Ninety-one percent of the children under age 14, who are killed 
by a gun, are killed by a gun in the United States. And if you are a 
young person in this country, you are 50 times more likely to die of a 
gun death than in all of those other countries. We have the most guns 
and we have the most gun violence.
  Mr. Speaker, we have the NRA. Through fear, intimidation, and 
misinformation, the NRA has taken control over the debate on guns to 
such an extent that we cannot even vote in this Chamber on whether we 
should keep guns out of the hands of terrorists.
  Right now, someone can be on both the terrorist watch list and the 
no-fly list. In other words, the FBI thinks you are a terrorist and the 
TSA bans you from flying, but if you want to drive down to your local 
gun store and buy an assault rifle, there is nothing anyone can do to 
stop you.
  Over the last 10 years, people on the terrorist watch list tried to 
buy explosives or firearms 2,233 times. Over 90 percent of the time, 
they were successful. This is wrong. The American people know it is 
wrong, public health officials know it is wrong, and nearly every 
single law enforcement association in America knows it is wrong, which 
is why they are all in favor of closing the terrorist gun loophole. In 
fact, a recent poll by a Republican pollster found 76 percent of gun 
owners and 71 percent of NRA members said suspected terrorists should 
not be allowed to buy guns.
  If you were to walk outside the House of Representatives right now 
and stop someone walking down the street and ask the simple question: 
Should terrorists be allowed to buy guns, you would get a very simple 
answer. They would say: No, of course terrorists should not be allowed 
to buy guns.
  But they can. Republicans here in the House won't even let us have a 
debate and a vote on it.
  How did we get here, Mr. Speaker? How has the debate shifted so far 
away from commonsense gun regulation that a proposal to close the 
terrorist gun loophole is this controversial? Why is it that, here in 
the House, debate is silenced and we are not allowed to vote?
  The closest we came to a debate on gun legislation recently came last 
week when a controversy erupted about the standard procedure to observe 
a moment of silence on the House floor after a mass shooting.
  Mr. Speaker, it is shameful that we have allowed this country to get 
to a point where Congress has to even have a standard procedure to 
observe mass shootings, yet we aren't even allowed to have a debate 
about legislation to address this problem.
  It is time for us to stand up to the NRA, to have a fair and open 
debate about gun violence, and it is time for all of us to do our job 
representing the American people.

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