[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 110 (Friday, July 8, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1075]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    IN OPPOSITION TO RULE ON MOTION TO GO TO CONFERENCE ON S. 2943, 
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2017 AND CONFERENCE 
   REPORT ON S. 524, COMPREHENSIVE ADDICTION AND RECOVERY ACT OF 2016

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, July 8, 2016

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the Rule for 
this very important reason.
  I oppose the rule because we should instead be devoting our time, 
attention, and energy to passing legislation to address the epidemic of 
gun violence and keeps the most dangerous weapons out of the hands of 
the most dangerous persons and potential terrorists.
  Mr. Speaker, we should instead be debating and voting on ``No Fly, No 
Buy'' legislation to keep guns out of the hands of suspected terrorists 
and H.R. 1217, the ``Public Safety & Second Amendment Rights Protection 
Act of 2015,'' sponsored by Congressman Peter King of New York and 
Congressman Mike Thompson of California, which expands and strengthens 
the firearms transfer background check system.
  Less than a month ago, on June 12, our nation was horrified and 
heartbroken by the heinous act of terror and hatred that claimed the 
lives of 49 innocent persons and wounded many more in Orlando, Florida, 
the deadliest mass shooting in the history of our country.
  Our hearts still grieve over a loss so overwhelming and senseless.
  Mass shootings have become too common in our country and we owe it to 
the victims of gun violence--from Orlando to Charleston to Aurora to 
Chattanooga to Fort Hood and more--to keep weapons intended for 
military use out of the hands of persons who would use them to massacre 
civilians.
  Mr. Speaker, the statistics are grim.
  In 2015, 13,286 people were killed in the United States by firearms 
and 26,819 people were injured;
  In 2015 there were 372 mass shootings in the United States, including 
64 school shootings at elementary and secondary schools;
  More than 700 children have lost their lives to gun violence in the 
first 160 days of 2015;
  On average, 7 children and adolescents lose their lives to gun 
violence each day, 75 percent of which are under the age of 12 years 
old;
  So many people die annually from gun violence in the United States 
that the death toll between 1968 and 2011 eclipses the total lives lost 
in all the armed conflicts in the history of the United States;
  Mr. Speaker, let me briefly recount some of the gun violence carnage 
that claimed the lives of more than 300,000 persons during the period 
2005-2015:
  1. On June 7, 2015, a gunman shot and killed nine people at the 
Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South 
Carolina, one of the oldest and largest black congregations in the 
South;
  2. On November 11, 2009, at Fort Hood, near Killeen, Texas, a gunman 
shot and killed 13 people, and wounded 30 others;
  3. On August 5, 2012 in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, a gunman shot and 
killed six people, and injured three others, at the Sikh Temple of Oak 
Creek;
  4. On July 7, 2015 in Chattanooga, Tennessee a gunman shot and killed 
five people, including two U.S. Marines and a Naval Officer, and shot 
and injured two others at a recruiting center and U.S. Naval Reserve 
Center;
  5. On December 2, 2015 in San Bernardino, California, two gunmen 
killed 14 people and injured 21 others at the Inland Regional Center;
  6. On December 14, 2012, a gunman murdered 26 persons, including 20 
children and 6 school administrators and teachers, at Sandy Hook 
Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut;
  7. On April 16, 2007, a gunman killed 32 persons and injured 17 
others at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia; and
  8. On August 8, 2015, a gunman brutally murdered his ex-girlfriend 
and her six children and husband in one of the most notorious cases of 
domestic violence in the history of Houston, Texas;
  Nearly 100 metropolitan areas have experienced mass shootings like 
these since 2013.
  Mass shootings occur more frequently in states that do not require 
background checks for all gun sales and analyses of mass shootings in 
the United States between 2009 and 2015 document that the majority of 
mass shootings occur in venues where the carrying of firearms is not 
restricted.
  In states that require background checks for all handgun sales, 
including guns offered in unlicensed sales online and at gun shows, 
there are 52 percent fewer mass shootings.
  Congress has observed 25 moments of silence honoring victims of mass 
shootings since the December 14, 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary 
School in Newtown, Connecticut, but has not enacted or even brought up 
for debate and vote a single gun violence prevention measure.
  That is why I have introduced H.R. 5470, the ``Stop Mass Killings by 
Violent Terrorists Act,'' which will prohibit a firearms dealer from 
transferring a semiautomatic assault weapon or large capacity 
ammunition clips to a purchaser until the Attorney General has verified 
that the prospective transferee has truthfully answered new questions 
on the firearms background check questionnaire regarding contacts 
between the prospective purchaser or transferee and federal law 
enforcement authorities.
  H.R. 5470 complements many of the gun violence prevention and anti-
terrorism bills I have introduced in this and previous Congresses, 
including the ``No Fly For Foreign Fighters Act'' (H.R. 4240), which 
passed the House earlier this year and is pending in the Senate.
  I am pleased that Republican Senator Susan Collins, along with her 
colleagues Senator Lindsay Graham and others, have introduced 
bipartisan legislation this week that will ban the sale of guns to 
anyone who appears on the government's No-Fly list, or the selectee 
list, a list which includes names of people who require additional 
security at airports.
  Clearly, if you're too dangerous to get on a plane, you're too 
dangerous to buy a gun.
  On average gun violence claims the lives of 90 persons each day. 
Since 1968, more than a million persons have died at the hand of a gun.
  The homicide rate in the United States is about 6.9 times higher than 
the combined rate in 22 other populous highly-developed countries, 
despite similar non-lethal crime and violence rates.
  Mr. Speaker, we can reduce the incidence of mass shootings like the 
ones that occurred in San Bernardino, Newtown, and Orlando by making it 
more difficult for those who would do our people and communities harm 
to obtain automatic assault weapons and high capacity ammunition 
magazines more difficult, or better yet, by banning them altogether.
  And a good place to start is for the House to reject this Rule and 
bring to the floor for debate and vote H.R. 1217, the Public Safety & 
Second Amendment Rights Protection Act of 2015,'' and the bill I have 
introduced with Congresswoman Corrine Brown, whose congressional 
district includes Orlando's Pulse Nightclub, H.R. 5470, the ``Stop Mass 
Killings by Violent Terrorists Act.''

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