[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 108 (Wednesday, July 6, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H4285-H4286]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN VIOLENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Colorado (Mr. Perlmutter) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I ask that you talk to the Speaker of 
the whole House, Paul Ryan, and let him know that we are not going away 
and this subject on gun violence is not going away. We have had too 
many people killed, too many people maimed, and too many people 
traumatized to not take up a vote on two commonsense pieces of 
legislation.
  The first one is no fly, no buy. No fly, no buy. If you are on the 
terrorist watch list, you can't get a gun. The second is universal 
background checks to make sure that people with dangerous mental 
instability, domestic violence, and felons can't get a gun.
  These are two very simple and straightforward bipartisan pieces of 
legislation. They have got to come up for a vote. We are not going to 
go away. We have had too many killings.
  Like Diana DeGette, I represent the Denver area. We are no stranger 
to mass shootings.
  I am going to read the names of the kids and the teacher killed at 
Columbine and the names of the people killed in the Aurora movie 
theater so that their deaths are not in vain and

[[Page H4286]]

that we actually take up some legislation instead of the Republican 
majority continually ducking the conversation:
  Rachel Scott, 17.
  Daniel Rohrbough, 15.
  Dave Sanders, the teacher, 47.
  Kyle Velasquez, 17.
  Steve Curnow, 14.
  Corey DePooter, 17.
  Cassie Bernall, 17.
  Daniel Mauser, 15.
  I was just on a telephone townhall with Daniel Mauser's father last 
week talking to my constituency about gun violence. Columbine happened 
in 1999, and 17 years later you can hear the pain in that father's 
voice about that death.
  Matt Kechter, 16.
  Kelly Fleming, 16.
  Isaiah Shoels, 18.
  John Tomlin, 16.
  Lauren Townsend, 18.
  All were cut down just as they were beginning the prime of their 
life.
  Then the Aurora movie theater 4 years ago, July 20--4 years ago. Have 
we had one hearing since then, Mr. Speaker? Not one. Not one. Not one 
vote, not one hearing.
  Jonathan Blunk, 26.
  A.J. Boik, 18.
  Air Force Staff Sergeant Jesse Childress, 29.
  Gordon Cowden, 51, a father protecting his kids in that theater.
  Jessica Ghawi, a reporter.
  Navy Petty Officer Third Class John Thomas Larimer, an expert in 
cyber
security for the Navy.
  Matt McQuinn, 27, died protecting his girlfriend.
  Micayla Medek, 23.
  Veronica Moser-Sullivan, 6.
  Alex Sullivan, 27, again, saving his girlfriend.
  Alex Teves, 24.
  Rebecca Wingo, 32.
  We can't keep this up. We want a vote. We did something unprecedented 
last week by having a filibuster in the House, which turned into a sit-
in, to make our voices heard that this can't keep going on.
  We all had a good friend, Gabby Giffords, shot in a mass shooting in 
Tucson, Arizona, 5\1/2\ years ago. Have we had one hearing? No. Have we 
had one vote? No.
  We are asking for two things, Mr. Speaker, two votes. That is it. It 
is common sense: no fly, no buy and universal background checks. We are 
not going away. This subject is not going away. We want a vote.

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