[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 107 (Tuesday, July 5, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H4207]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
GUN VIOLENCE
(Mr. ENGEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, if Democrats sound frustrated with the
House's failure to act on gun violence, it is because we are. In New
York City over this past weekend, 14 people were shot in 10 incidents.
Three weeks ago, more than 100 people were shot in a single evening in
a single club in Orlando, and 49 of them died.
My Democratic colleagues and I have been running through the
statistics over and over again for years now--tens of thousands of
deaths every year. Since we had the sit-in on the House floor just a
few weeks ago, more than 1,000 Americans have died from gun violence.
That is shameful.
So, yes, we are frustrated because this is the only country in the
developed world with gun laws like these. Australia changed its gun
laws, and as a result, they virtually have no gun homicides in that
place. We just sit and mourn and do nothing.
You can order one over the Internet. We don't require background
checks, and they will ship it to your house.
We are asking for no fly, no buy, and we are asking for background
checks.
You can walk up to a booth at a gun show and hand a stranger a stack
of cash and walk away with a semiautomatic assault rifle, no questions
asked. Under current law, even if the FBI has probable cause to believe
you are a terrorist, you can walk into a gun store and pass a
background check. That is shameful.
We have to make a choice. We have to act. I ask my good colleagues on
both sides of the aisle to come together and pass sensible gun control
legislation.
____________________