[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 160 (Thursday, October 5, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6328-S6329]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Las Vegas Mass Shooting

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, as we continue to grieve with the people 
of Las Vegas and families of the injured and the deceased, when I think 
of the pictures I see of those beautiful young people who had the best 
of life ahead of them, we ache for them. But our thoughts must turn to 
action so this doesn't happen again.
  What can we do as a nation to change? Because surely when there are 
more mass shootings this year than there are the number of days this 
year, when we average more than one mass shooting per day, something 
has to change.
  I am sure that if you asked the grieving families whether they want 
the laws to change so this might not happen again, the overwhelming 
majority would say yes, they would want us to do something. If we could 
talk to those brave souls who were killed and are now in Heaven, they 
would say: Do something. They wouldn't say: Let's wait. They wouldn't 
say: Leave things alone. The fact that they were killed, the fact that 
there were so many injured--they wouldn't think it is political to try 
to save their lives or prevent somebody else from dying the way they 
did. So when folks say: Don't bring politics into this, that it is 
inappropriate, I am sure the families of the loved ones who were lost 
would agree with me that it is appropriate and important and necessary.
  Politics is where we are supposed to come together and debate the 
great problems of our time in order to find solutions to them. Politics 
is how we are supposed to make our country a better, safer, more 
prosperous place to live. And there is no more appropriate time than 
now to talk about the issue of gun violence.
  Yesterday, President Trump visited Las Vegas. I am glad he went to 
show our solidarity and remind everyone there that they have the full 
support of the Nation. But he didn't talk about guns. There is a huge 
opportunity he

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missed to lead this Nation in a reasonable, moderate debate on gun 
safety, but that opportunity is not over. The President still has the 
opportunity. All eyes are on the President to see if he will grasp the 
opportunity and lead the Nation to do something reasonable and moderate 
about guns and gun safety.
  President Trump, are you going to wait to hear what the NRA says 
first? Are you going to wait for the NRA to give you the green light? 
You ran your campaign saying you were beholden to no one. You fashion 
yourself as a strong man. Well, are you going to show that you are not 
beholden to anyone now? Are you going to show your strength now? Are 
you going to be the first Republican President in a generation to buck 
the NRA? You know what the right thing to do is.
  I say to President Trump: Come out and say that you support and would 
sign a law to ban bump stocks--the modification used by the Las Vegas 
gunman to make his weapons automatic. That is small, and it is the 
right thing to do. Don't wait for the NRA to make up their mind. Do it.
  Of course, banning bump stocks can't be our only response. It is 
hardly enough. Even though we should do whatever we can in this body in 
obeisance to the NRA, we must do more. Abandoning efforts to deregulate 
silencers would be the next step. The police were able to figure out 
where the gunman was because of the noise from his gun in the Mandalay 
Bay Hotel.
  Let's forget about implementing a national concealed carry 
reciprocity. My police officers in Times Square don't want to let 
someone who has had no check, who might have a mental derangement like 
Paddock, come to Times Square--and they can't do anything about it; 
that is what that law would do--or any other heavily populated place, 
the downtowns of many of our big cities and even medium-sized cities, 
Disney World, baseball games, football stadiums. If this concealed 
carry reciprocity passed, crazy people could carry weapons concealed 
into any football stadium in America, and the police couldn't check on 
them and see if they had a gun.
  We have to do these things. If you looked at what would be the most 
effective way in stopping the daily gun violence that is doable, the 
most important and attainable thing to do would be adopting universal 
background checks. It is common sense, it is measured, it is prudent, 
and it would be really effective.
  The bill Senator Murphy introduced yesterday is one I have been 
involved with for a long time, and we should see if we can get enough 
support to pass it. We can and should talk about these issues more. It 
requires only a modicum of moral and political coverage. President 
Trump and Republicans in Congress ought to show that moral and 
political courage now by bucking the NRA and engaging in a reasonable 
debate about commonsense gun laws.
  Fully automatic weapons are already illegal, made so by a law signed 
by President Reagan in 1986. Banning bump stocks is entirely consistent 
with the books. Senator Feinstein introduced a reasonable proposal. 
What are we waiting for, the NRA to give us a green light? That is so 
wrong.
  If the President and Congress are so beholden to the NRA that they 
can't do the very bare minimum--banning a device that allowed a shooter 
to kill 59 Americans with ease, a device whose ban would in no way 
infringe on the legitimate rights of gun owners--then our politics, our 
means of making this country a better and safer place, will have once 
again failed us.