[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 158 (Tuesday, October 3, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6273-S6275]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Las Vegas Mass Shooting

  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, a tragedy took place in Las Vegas this 
week. It is a tragedy that has affected hundreds of families. It is a 
tragedy in which each and every one of us sends our prayers to those 
who have lost loved ones. And to those who have family members who are 
now hospitalized, we send our prayers to you as well, with the great 
hope that a full recovery is in their future.

[[Page S6274]]

  This was an unimaginable event that occurred in our country. It is 
now time for us to talk about this issue. There are many people who say 
this is not the time to talk about it, but the truth is, the only thing 
the National Rifle Association wants more than to sell lots of gun 
silencers is to put a silencer on the debate about gun safety 
legislation. The only thing the NRA wants more than allowing nationwide 
concealed carry laws is to conceal the overwhelming support for 
background checks. The only thing the NRA wants more than to stifle 
smart gun technology is to stifle debate on gun violence prevention.
  So to anyone who says having this debate now is too soon, it is 
already too late for at least 59 people in Las Vegas and hundreds of 
others who were wounded. We should not wait another day.
  We need to pass commonsense gun safety legislation so that we can 
hold a moment of silence for the National Rifle Association's 
stranglehold on American politics. That is what must end in our 
country.
  We need a debate on this floor on background checks. We need a debate 
in this Chamber on whether we are going to do research on the 
relationship between guns and violence in our society. We don't need to 
debate the issue of bringing silencers into our society that can be 
attached to guns and that would have made it infinitely more difficult 
for the police to find where the shooter was or for people to know that 
they needed to hide or move to a more secure location. That would not 
have happened. We would not have had 59 deaths; we could have had 259 
deaths, 559 deaths, or 959 deaths because a silencer would have given 
less notice to all of those people that they should be moving and 
hiding and protecting themselves and their loved ones.
  On concealed carry, the Republicans are moving a bill that allows for 
someone to conceal a gun under a law in one State--because that State 
allows you to conceal a gun, you would be able to move into any other 
State and continue to conceal a gun even though that State's laws 
prohibit concealing guns. They want that law to move through.
  So when the Republicans talk about debating gun control, what they 
are talking about is lessening the safety around these guns, lowering 
the standards that would protect people, and allowing for silencers to 
now be proliferating on these assault weapons, these weapons of war 
that should not be on the streets of our country and that have the 
capacity to kill people without people hearing them.
  They say they are needed because we need to protect people's hearing 
when they are firing assault weapons. Well, it is more important that 
the police hear the bullets and that the people who might be hit hear 
the sound of those bullets as they are leaving the gun. That is going 
to provide far more protection. It is far more important that the 
police in a State or in a city know that someone has a concealed 
weapon. It is critically important for police protection. But the 
National Rifle Association does not want those kinds of protections to 
remain on the books. That is who they are. That is what they want.
  What should we be debating? We should be debating background checks. 
We should be debating whether someone should be able to buy a gun on 
Instagram and turn it into an ``insta-gun'' without background checks. 
That is what we should be talking about out here.
  Over 90 percent of Americans want stronger background checks. Yet the 
Republican leadership turns a deaf ear to the request of the American 
people because the National Rifle Association does not want there to be 
background checks on people who are buying guns in our country.
  More Americans have died from gun violence in the past 50 years on 
the streets of America than have died in all of our Nation's wars 
overseas in our entire history. Let me say that again. More people have 
died from guns in our own country in the last 50 years than all of our 
soldiers, sailors, Air Force, and marines have died going all the way 
back to 1776. That is how much of an epidemic this is in our country. 
It is an epidemic that now kills 33,000 people every single year in our 
country, but the Federal Government's investment in researching gun 
violence is zero.
  Diabetes--76,000 U.S. deaths annually; they get $170 million at the 
Centers for Disease Control. Flu--57,000 deaths a year; they get $187 
million for research. Asthma--3,600 deaths a year; they get $29 million 
for research at the Centers for Disease Control. Gun violence--zero. An 
epidemic is ravaging our country, and the Republicans will not fund 
research to find this link between violence and the use of guns in our 
society, to do the research that can help us to reduce this carnage on 
the streets of our country. And because of an appropriations rider from 
the 1990s, the Centers for Disease Control hasn't conducted research 
into the causes of gun violence and how to prevent it. If 20 young 
children in Newtown had died of Ebola, we would have invested funding 
to study it. If 59 people in Las Vegas died of Zika, would we study it? 
Absolutely. But our country is suffering from an illness, and we have 
let it spread because we refuse to write a treatment plan.
  The American Medical Association supports ending the ban on research. 
The American Public Health Association supports ending the ban on 
research. More than 141 groups want to end this ban on researching the 
link between guns and violence in our society.
  The bill I have introduced with Representative Maloney gives $10 
million to the Centers for Disease Control every single year. Shouldn't 
we be studying how to stop people from firing guns and give the 
medical, the scientific, and the public health community the resources 
they need?
  We also need to develop new smart gun technologies that would improve 
safety and reduce accidental shootings. My bill would authorize grants 
to develop and personalize handgun technology to increase efficiency 
and decrease costs. If you can use a fingerprint to operate your 
iPhone, you should be able to do the same thing with your gun to make 
sure that safety is ensured, to make sure it is your thumbprint on that 
gun, that if your gun is stolen or lost, no one else would be able to 
use that gun. Does that make sense? Well, your thumb can work for your 
smartphone. Your thumb could also work for smart gun technology.
  So this is where we are. We are at this critical point where some 
people are saying: Not now. It is inappropriate. We shouldn't be 
raising these issues.
  But what we should be debating is what the American people want us to 
debate. Over 90 percent want background checks on anyone who buys a gun 
in our country to make sure they are qualified, to make sure they do 
not have something in their background that should disqualify them from 
owning a gun in our country.
  Our debate here should really be about one thing: making the NRA 
stand for ``not relevant anymore'' in American politics. The task for 
the Republican Party is different. It will be whether they will kill 
these bills that would legalize more fully silencers being put on 
automatic weapons in our country, kill the concealed carry law, which 
is moving through the House and Senate driven by Republicans, and, 
instead, debate the kinds of things that make our country safer, the 
kinds of things that poll after poll is showing that the American 
people want us to do. That is going to be our challenge in the days and 
weeks and months ahead.
  This is the time; this is the place. We are the people who must be 
conducting this debate to make sure we add an extra measure of safety 
that American families can rely upon.
  I yield back the remainder of my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, my colleague from Massachusetts has 
referred to the tragedy that we all watched unfold late on Sunday 
evening in Las Vegas, NV--the tragedy, the horror, the shock of so 
many. Alaska has felt the brunt of that tragedy as well. We lost two 
Alaskans; at least one other was injured. Mr. Adrian Murfitt from 
Anchorage, a commercial fisherman, lost his life that evening. Dorene 
Anderson, who is a mom and self-described hockey promoter, will not be 
returning to Alaska with her family. Rob McIntosh, who is a realtor

[[Page S6275]]

from the Fairbanks-North Pole area, was also injured. Our prayers are 
with him and with all of the families.
  Whether they are from Alaska or from around the country, the tragedy, 
the loss, is just a shocking emotion that has been brought to this 
Nation. It is really horrifying on so many different levels. I express 
my condolences not only to the families of the Alaskans whom we have 
lost but to all of those who are suffering.