[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 107 (Tuesday, July 5, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H4196-H4197]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AMERICANS WANT CONGRESS TO PASS MEANINGFUL GUN LEGISLATION
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from
California (Mr. Thompson) for 5 minutes.
Mr. THOMPSON of California. Mr. Speaker, Americans want Congress to
pass meaningful legislation that will actually keep guns out of
dangerous hands.
So what is our majority doing?
They are bringing up a bill that was not only drafted by the gun
lobby, but
[[Page H4197]]
that makes it nearly impossible to block gun sales to suspected
terrorists. That is shameful.
The American people deserve a Congress that is willing to stand up to
the gun lobby and do what it takes to help keep our communities safe.
Congress has a responsibility to listen to the people who we are
supposed to represent, to put partisan politics aside, and to bring up
commonsense, bipartisan legislation to keep guns away from those who
shouldn't have them: suspected terrorists, criminals, domestic abusers,
and the dangerously mentally ill. And the American people want those
bills brought up now.
More than 30 people are killed every day by someone using a gun. We
can't afford to allow more innocent lives to be lost to gun violence.
Just a few weeks ago, 49 innocent people were shot to death in the
worst mass shooting our country has ever seen. Sadly, this isn't an
insulated case. It has now been 3\1/2\ years since the tragedy at Sandy
Hook took the lives of 20 elementary school kids and six educators, but
for reasons that I will never understand, that horrific tragedy wasn't
enough to convince the Republican leadership that something--
something--needs to be done to prevent the next tragedy.
Let me give you some numbers:
Three and a half, that is how many years it has been since Sandy
Hook; 34,000, that is the number of people who have been killed by
someone using a gun since Sandy Hook; 1,182, that is the number of mass
shootings that have taken place since Sandy Hook; 520, that is the
number of days the House has been in session; 30, the moments of
silence that we have observed on this House floor because of gun
violence.
Most important, zero. Zero. That is the number of votes that this
House has taken to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people.
What is the majority so afraid of? Is their fear greater than the
fear of those young kids at Sandy Hook, or those parishioners in
Charleston, or those young people at the nightclub in Orlando?
It is long past time for the House to give us a vote on meaningful
legislation to make sure that terrorists, criminals, domestic abusers,
and the dangerously mentally ill don't have easy access to guns in our
country.
There is bipartisan legislation that would prohibit those on the
FBI's terrorist watch list from being able to purchase firearms, and I
have authored legislation, which has bipartisan support, to require
background checks for all commercial gun sales. Background checks are
our first line of defense when it comes to stopping dangerous people
from getting firearms. They work. Every day more than 170 felons, some
50 domestic abusers, and nearly 20 fugitives are stopped from buying a
gun because of background checks. But in 34 States, criminals, domestic
abusers, and the dangerously mentally ill can bypass the background
check by purchasing guns online, at a gun show, or through an ad in the
paper. This is a dangerous loophole that needs to be closed, and it
needs to be closed now.
The bill has 186 bipartisan coauthors. Bring our bill up for a vote.
There is absolutely no reason why anyone should oppose this background
check bill. Not only is it bipartisan, it respects the Second Amendment
rights of law-abiding citizens.
I am a gun guy. I own guns. I support the Second Amendment. If this
bill did anything to violate those rights, my name wouldn't be on it.
All this background check bill does is require that folks pass a
background check before purchasing guns online, at a gun show, or
through an ad. Plain and simple. It does nothing to infringe on the
Second Amendment right of law-abiding citizens to own firearms.
This debate on background checks isn't a choice between either
protecting the Second Amendment or reducing gun violence. It is about
the willingness of a responsible majority to do both. If there is one
thing we should all be able to agree on, it is that suspected
terrorists, criminals, domestic abusers, and the dangerously mentally
ill shouldn't have guns.
Mr. Speaker, give us a vote. Bring up H.R. 1076: bipartisan,
effective, no fly, no buy legislation. And bring up H.R. 1217:
bipartisan background check legislation.
Mass shootings followed by moments of silence and no action cannot
become America's new normal. We need to vote, and we need to vote now.
____________________