[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 109 (Thursday, July 7, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H4481]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    VOTE ON COMMONSENSE LEGISLATION

  (Ms. TSONGAS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Ms. TSONGAS. Mr. Speaker, my home State of Massachusetts has enacted 
some of the most comprehensive gun violence prevention laws in the 
Nation, including universal background checks.
  Thanks to these commonsense reforms, Massachusetts has one of the 
lowest rates of gun deaths in the Nation. Nevertheless, lax gun laws in 
other States make us a net importer of firearms, and we are certainly 
not immune from the tragic impacts of gun violence.
  Americans have a right to be free from violence in our own 
communities, in our homes, in our schools, in our churches, and in our 
workplace. But it is clear that the States cannot do it alone. Congress 
must do more to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, domestic 
abusers, and the dangerously mentally ill. You can't know if someone 
falls into one of these categories without a background check.
  Mr. Speaker, our constituents sent us here to cast a vote on their 
behalf, and that is what we should be doing. Let us have a vote on 
commonsense, bipartisan legislation that allows background checks for 
all gun sales.

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