[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 109 (Thursday, July 7, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H4472-H4473]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Price) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a vice 
chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and in solidarity 
with the majority of Americans who are demanding that Congress take 
meaningful action to prevent gun violence.
  We all know the statistics. Whether it is through mass shootings that 
make the headlines or the unseen violence that happens daily on our 
streets, gun violence takes the lives of more than 30,000 of our 
Nation's citizens each year, a number that far exceeds other industrial 
countries.
  Now, all these countries have their share of violent extremists and 
madmen, but only our country gives easy access to weapons of mass 
killing. And that makes all the difference for America.
  Rather than seeking out commonsense solutions to address this crisis, 
the Republican majority continues to cower to the gun lobby and the 
firearms manufacturers. Now they plead the Second Amendment, but 
Constitutional Law 101 would tell us that all of our rights, including 
the precious freedoms of religion and speech, must be balanced to 
protect innocent third parties and to protect the safety of the wider 
community.
  One commonsense measure we should all agree on is background checks 
to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, domestic abusers, and the 
dangerously mentally ill. You can't shout ``fire'' in a crowded theater 
because of your freedom of speech, and neither should you be able to 
buy a weapon if you have a history of violence and criminality.
  In fact, almost 90 percent of Americans, including the majority of 
gun owners, support universal background checks for all gun purchases. 
The problem is that our present background check system is rife with 
loopholes. Background checks are not required for private sales at gun 
shows. They are also not required for Internet sales.
  Bipartisan legislation has been introduced by Representatives Peter 
King and Mike Thompson that would finally close this egregious 
loophole. It is an entirely sensible reform that would have a 
measurable impact on the safety of our schools, homes, and 
neighborhoods, without preventing law-abiding citizens from using guns 
for self-defense or recreational purposes.
  Despite attracting 186 cosponsors, including several Republicans, the 
background check legislation has never been brought to the floor or 
even received a hearing in committee. It has been languishing for more 
than 15 months. Meanwhile, the shootings and the suicides and the 
massacres continue to accumulate.
  My colleagues, we must do better. Our fellow citizens are totally fed 
up, both with the unspeakable killing and suffering and with a feckless 
Congress that hasn't lifted a finger to prevent it.
  Now, this week, after intense public criticism and a historic protest 
by Democrats on the House floor, Republicans seemed for a while to be 
willing to hold a vote on legislation they claim would prevent 
suspected terrorists from purchasing firearms. After all, nearly 2,500 
individuals on the terrorist watch list have successfully purchased 
weapons in this country.
  But rather than embrace existing bipartisan legislation to actually 
fix the problem, Republicans put forth a woefully inadequate proposal 
that would require law enforcement and courts to grapple with 
unworkable processes, unreachable standards, to be completed in an 
unreasonably short period of time.
  Their bill would allow suspected terrorists to receive firearms by 
default after only 3 days if the court is unable to work through a 
complicated process. That is the same flaw that allowed the White 
supremacist Charleston shooter to obtain the weapon that he used to 
murder nine people at Emanuel AME Church.
  In other words, the bill is totally inadequate. Now, under pressure 
from their most extreme Members, Republican leaders refuse to even put 
this bill on the floor.
  What should be on the floor is bipartisan legislation, H.R. 1076, 
that would permit the Attorney General to block gun sales to suspected 
terrorists. This legislation, based on a proposal from the Bush Justice 
Department, would still allow individuals to challenge the government 
in court to restore their gun ownership rights.
  We don't have to choose between protecting our communities and 
respecting due process.

                              {time}  1015

  And so, Mr. Speaker, we ask our colleagues how much longer must we

[[Page H4473]]

wait? How many more people have to die to move us to act? How many more 
American towns and cities must be added to the constantly growing list 
of places like Orlando and Columbine and Aurora and Charleston and 
Newtown?
  Moments of silence aren't enough. Thoughts and prayers are not 
enough. In fact, the Scriptures teach us that such pieties give grave 
offense when they mask a refusal to do what we know is right. We need 
action. I call on my colleagues to bring these commonsense proposals to 
the floor for a vote.

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