[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 180 (Monday, November 6, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7006-S7008]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Texas Church Mass shooting
Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I rise to speak about the mass
shooting in Texas yesterday--the latest mass shooting in what seems
like never-ending gun violence in our country. My heart breaks for the
victims and their families and for the community of Sutherland Springs
in Texas.
We are still gathering all the facts about this specific crime. We
are still learning about what happened, how this murderer was able to
purchase a gun, whatever his twisted rationale was for walking into a
house of worship in a small town and slaughtering more than 20 people,
including young children, with an assault weapon. Our incredible law
enforcement officials are working hard to answer all of that, but the
most important fact of all is something we already know very well. This
was yet another case where someone on American soil who had absolutely
no business getting his hands on a weapon of war was able to get one
and use it to commit heinous mass murder.
Of the five worst mass shootings in our history, three of them have
occurred in just the past 17 months. Think about that. In a small town
in America, nearly 7 percent of the town's population was slaughtered
just because they went to church that day. The weapon he used was based
on a military weapon designed for a war zone, but this was not a war
zone. It was a church. People were singing and praying and savoring
life.
I reject the notion that it is too soon to act. If not now, then
when? We should ban assault weapons and bump stocks today. People who
don't want to have an honest conversation say we need to wait. Well,
for how long? Because we wait, and we wait, and we will see evil rear
its ugly head over and over again, and we are told to wait again.
We have enough information today for Congress to do its job and try
to keep our constituents safe from gun violence. We had enough
information before yesterday to act, but what Congress does not have is
the political will to act. My friends, this must change. Thoughts and
prayers are not going to stop the next mass shooting. Merely talking
about doing something about the mentally ill obtaining guns isn't going
to stop the next deranged person with hate in their soul from
committing yet another mass murder. The Second Amendment does not mean
that Americans should have to risk getting shot because they walked
down the wrong street in a city or decided to go to a music festival in
Las Vegas or a night club in Orlando or an elementary school in Newtown
or a movie theater in Aurora or a church on Sunday in Texas.
After each of these horrific acts of violence, what happened here in
Congress? Nothing. More than a month after Las Vegas, we still can't
even tackle the most obvious fixes like banning bump stocks. Plain and
simple, Americans are being slaughtered and Congress is refusing to
protect them.
I hear my colleagues who rightly say we can't pass laws to stop every
instance of a deranged gunman who wants to kill innocent men, women,
and children, just like our other criminal laws will not necessarily
stop every instance of crime, but there is no excuse for not even
trying. Everyone in this Chamber knows that a shooting in a church is
something that should never happen in this country. Mr. President, I
think you would agree with that. I think everyone who serves in this
Chamber would agree with that. So then why aren't we doing anything to
stop this violence? Why aren't we making it harder for a crazed, evil
person to get their hands on a weapon of war?
It makes me wonder what our colleagues are waiting for. Are they
waiting for the NRA to come in and give them cover and tell them it is
OK to act? Are they waiting for the NRA to give them permission to
stand up and do something? If the NRA said today assault rifles or bump
stocks should be banned, it would be done tomorrow. That is the sad
truth of this place, but we know the NRA will not say that because they
want to keep selling these weapons of war to anyone who is willing to
buy them, no matter how unsafe it makes it for the rest of us.
Congress has caved in over and over again to the enormous pressure by
the NRA and the gun industry--which just wants to protect their
profits--and has ignored the vast majority of Americans. Gun owners and
nongun owners alike support commonsense measures to keep their fellow
Americans safe.
These mass slaughters continue, and Congress has done nothing--
absolutely nothing. To me, this is a monumental failure of leadership,
and it is no wonder that gun violence and mass shootings happen here at
a higher rate than any other developed country in the world. This has
to change. It is not enough to solve the individual crime after the
fact. We have to take meaningful, real action to prevent the next one.
This is what has to happen. To those who doubt that Congress can
actually get something done, we already know that, depending on the
motivation, depending on whom Congress is actually listening to,
Congress is fully capable of moving quickly to enact change. Instead of
acting like its hands are tied and refusing to do anything--which is
what is happening right now--far more often than not, Congress listens
to the special interests instead of the people who actually elect them
to keep them safe.
Look at the shameful state of our gun laws now and tell me if you
think these laws came about because families in our States demanded
them or was it because the NRA demanded them? Congress has turned a
collective back on strengthening and expanding our national background
check system. We should be fixing the holes in the system--whatever is
necessary--not just
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shrugging our shoulders and saying there is nothing that can be done.
Who do you think demanded that we don't fix the background check
system? Was it families in your State or was it the NRA? Congress
refuses to ban high-capacity magazines, which are literally made for
war, and let killers fire dozens of rounds without having to stop and
reload. Who do you think demanded that, families or the NRA?
Congress still refuses to ban assault weapons, which are designed for
war--designed to kill as many people as possible as rapidly as possible
but are given different names so they can be sold in the civilian
world. Who do you think demanded that, our families or the NRA?
Congress is on the verge of passing legislation to make it easier
right now for killers to buy suppressers, known by many of us as
silencers, to attach to their weapons and make it harder for the police
to do their jobs and catch violent criminals. Who do you think demanded
that? Certainly not the police and not our families--the NRA.
Congress is dragging its feet on banning bump stocks, the inexpensive
piece of equipment the killer in Las Vegas used to turn its already-
powerful firearm into an automatic weapon capable of firing hundreds of
rounds per minute. Who do you think demanded that, families or the NRA?
Just this February, Congress overturned a rule that had prevented
people who were so incapacitated that they could no longer handle their
own finances from getting their hands on a gun. Who do you think
demanded that, families or the NRA?
Congress even went so far as to pass a law that blocked the Centers
for Disease Control from studying the issue of gun deaths the way they
are allowed to study any other cause of death in this country. Why?
Because it is an attempt to hide the overwhelming data showing that
keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people would decrease gun
crime. Who do you think demanded that? Who do you think demanded that
Congress suppress the facts and the alarming data about gun violence?
Do you think it was families or the NRA?
This really has to change. Congress needs to start protecting the
people we were elected to represent. Their voices matter, and it really
does matter whom you are listening to. Their voices matter, and they
must be heard. We must listen and enact change that would actually help
to keep our States safer from gun violence. We are the ones who need to
act. We can't ignore our responsibility to keep our country safe from
this kind of violence.
To all the people who are watching us right now, I would say this:
After all these massacres, pay attention to what your elected leaders
are saying. Pay attention to what they are actually doing. Watch how
they react. Look closely at how they use their time here. Listen to
what they say or don't say. After these mass shootings, did they tell
you we were going to bow our heads for a moment of silence and leave it
there or did they tell you we were going to fight with every bit of
energy to actually fix these broken gun laws and protect our American
citizens?
Democracy only works when regular people stand up and demand action.
I urge everyone listening today to demand that action and to hold
elected leaders accountable and to ask them to pass meaningful gun
reform now.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, today we join the stunned community of
Sutherland Springs, TX--a small town near San Antonio--in mourning the
loss of too many innocent lives. One innocent life is too many.
I listened to the impassioned comments of our colleague from New York
asking us to do something, but I actually think it is important we
understand exactly what did happen, and once the fog of this terrible
tragic event lifts, after the law enforcement agencies can do the
appropriate investigation, then I think it is appropriate for us to
ask: What can we do, consistent with the Constitution and laws of the
United States--what can we do to make something like this less likely?
I wish I was optimistic there was some magic wand we could wave and
that we could prevent terrible tragedies like this, but in a free and
open society, unfortunately, we don't have that magic wand.
On the other hand, we have arrived at a consensus, I think, in this
country, that background checks, for example, are appropriate for
people suffering from mental illness, people who committed previous
felonies. Those people are banned from possessing or purchasing
firearms, and there is a consensus that they should be banned.
There are some early reports--and, again, the fog of this terrible
tragedy has not yet lifted. We need clarity in order to know what did
and did not happen and where we might be able to act to make a
difference. There is some indication by some news reports that this
individual had committed domestic violence and had been convicted of
that by a court-martial. That, too, would likely have been a
disqualifying factor in his ability to possess or purchase firearms. So
we need to know exactly what the facts are.
I appreciate the passion of our colleague from New York. We are all
stunned by what happened, but I think being rational people, we ought
to want to know exactly what the facts are before we decide what the
best course of action might be. It may be that, like we saw a few years
back at Virginia Tech, an individual who had previously been
adjudicated mentally ill, that determination, that judgment was not
entered into the National Instant Background Checks System run by the
FBI, and because it wasn't--because of a failure of communication
between the State and Federal authorities--he was able to purchase a
firearm when he was legally disqualified from being able to do so.
So those are the sorts of things I think we could work together on. I
know, for example, after the terrible shooting in Las Vegas, I was
shocked, like so many others were, that somebody could essentially
bypass the prohibition against making a semiautomatic weapon into an
automatic weapon by the use of the so-called bump stock. As somebody
who enjoys the outdoors and is a hunter and enjoys recreational
shooting, I can tell you I know of no sportsman, no hunter, who uses a
bump stock. It seems to me the sole purpose of this is to bypass the
prohibition about turning semiautomatic weapons into automatic weapons.
That is something I hope the Senate Judiciary Committee will continue
to look into and determine whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and
Firearms ought to be extended the authority to regulate the so-called
bump stocks.
Back when President Obama was President of the United States, the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms said they did not believe they
had the authority, but several of us have written to them and asked
them to clarify for us just where they think they do have authority and
where they feel they need additional authority so we can work with
them, hopefully, to prevent terrible tragedies like that from occurring
in the future.
Yesterday we all received the news that a gunman opened fire on
parishioners at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, TX, killing
at least 26 people during the Sunday morning church service. I can't
imagine a more vulnerable time. People were sitting in the pews with
their heads bowed and their eyes closed and then were exposed to this
madman unleashing death in that house of worship. The victims included
young children and a pregnant woman, among others. All 26 of them are
now gone, aged 18 months to 72 years old.
This small community and an entire Nation must now bind its wounds as
we mourn the dead and meet the face of evil with moral clarity and a
newfound determination to stem the violence that continues to plague
the United States of the America.
We saw in New York that somebody used a vehicle--a car--to mow down
people and to kill people as an act of terrorism.
We are vulnerable in so many ways because we are an open society.
Unfortunately, these sorts of tragedies seem to come back to us time
and again, and we in Texas are not immune.
We remember the knife attack at the University of Texas in Austin
earlier this year. We remember the shooting of police officers in
downtown Dallas last year, where five police officers perished, and at
Fort Hood in 2009. Each of
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these events has been shocking, inexplicable, and, certainly,
reprehensible.
This tragedy may be the worst of all. That this event occurred in a
house of worship makes it all the more grotesque and despicable. Hymns
of praise were silenced, and those led to cries for help.
The shooting in Sutherland Springs has been called the deadliest mass
shooting in Texas history. It is perhaps better understood by the words
of one man whose mother and father were both killed yesterday. He was
sitting on the curb, outside the emergency room, at Connally Memorial
Medical Center in Floresville, a town nearby. Shaken to the core, he
called the events of yesterday ``unimaginable.'' It is impossible to
comprehend what it must have felt like to wake up this morning in
Sutherland Springs--a small, tight-knit, rural community that is
roughly 35 miles southeast of San Antonio--with so many neighbors lost
and the sound of yesterday's gunfire and sirens still ringing in the
air.
One of the people who lost her life was Crystal Holcombe, who died
with her unborn child and several relatives. Another was Annabelle
Pomeroy, a shy 14-year-old girl, whose uncle describes her as an
``angel in the flesh.''
We know, thankfully, that two Good Samaritans turned on and pursued
the shooter and may have prevented this nightmare from lasting even
longer. We are grateful for the heroism and the quick decisive action
of these two men. We know that about 20 injured remain in hospitals,
including a 5-year-old, Ryland Ward, who was shot multiple times.
Yesterday I spoke with Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Wilson County
Sheriff Joe Tackitt, Jr., and offered not only my condolences but my
unequivocal and complete support. Sheriff Tackitt said that the bloody
scene inside First Baptist was horrific, but that the response to the
tragedy was instantaneous. First responders from the surrounding area,
as well as State and Federal officials, inundated Sutherland Springs
with logistical resources and personnel, offering their love and
compassion, as well--a proud display of what I often see, which is an
attitude that being a Texan doesn't describe just where you are from.
It describes who your family is.
Today I join the sheriff, as well as Governor Abbott, and my friend
Representative Henry Cuellar, in whose congressional district this
tragedy occurred, my colleague in the Senate, Senator Cruz, and so many
other Texans in asking God for healing and for understanding.
We know the investigation into exactly what happened and why is
ongoing, and it is important that we allow this investigation to be
completed so we can know what happened and exactly what we might be
able to do to prevent tragedies like this from occurring in the future.
I hope that Texans who call Sutherland Springs and First Baptist
Church home will soon have some answers. I send my thoughts and prayers
to those who lost parents, children, friends, and relatives in this
outrageous and inhuman act. I hope each of us will pledge to be a light
in the darkness. To the families whose lives are forever changed by
this atrocity, let us provide a strong shoulder of support.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Ernst). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
(The remarks of Ms. Collins and Ms. Cortez Masto pertaining to the
introduction of S. 2076 are printed in today's Record under
``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DAINES. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.