[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 180 (Monday, November 6, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7030-S7031]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TEXAS CHURCH MASS SHOOTING

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, yesterday there was another gun massacre 
and horrible circumstances. I know the Presiding Officer came to the 
floor earlier today to say a word about his feelings and the feelings 
of his family. They are shared by all of us. It is heartbreaking to 
think that some person so demented, so unusual would come into a 
worship setting and kill innocent people.
  Yesterday, in Sutherland Springs, Texas, at least 26 people were 
killed and 20 others were wounded when a gunman opened fire in the 
sanctuary of the First Baptist Church. The reported shooter, Devin 
Kelley, used an assault rifle to commit this mass murder. The victims 
range in age from 18 months to 77 years. About a dozen of those who 
were killed were children, including the daughter of the church's 
pastor. This is heartbreaking. Our nation grieves for the victims and 
their loved ones.
  The shooter reportedly drove up to the church wearing a bulletproof 
vest and tactical gear, and he began firing in the parking lot before 
entering the church. At some point, a local resident who lived near the 
church began firing back. The shooter then drove off, with two 
residents in pursuit, eventually crashing his car. He was found dead 
from a gunshot wound, which may have been self-inflicted.
  President Trump and others have said that this exchange of fire with 
citizens responding saved lives and shows that the policy response to 
the shooting should be to arm more good guys with guns. Let us not 
forget that 46 people were shot before these citizens came on the 
scene.
  This reported shooter, 26 years old, had served in the U.S. Air Force 
from 2010 until 2014, working on logistics readiness. In 2012 he was 
court-martialed for two counts of assault on his then-wife and child. 
He was sentenced to confinement for 12 months. He received a bad 
conduct discharge in 2014. He remarried in 2014, and had worked as an 
unarmed security guard at a water park. He reportedly bought four guns, 
one each year from 2014 to 2017, and three of those weapons--the 
assault rifle that he used in this crime and two handguns--were found 
at the scene.
  Local law enforcement said that the shooter was likely motivated by a 
domestic situation. His wife's grandmother was one of the victims.
  There are so many things that come to mind. First and foremost is the 
grief and sorrow we all feel for the families who were affected. It is 
so sad that when people go to church on Sunday, they are not safe from 
gun violence and gun massacres, which are occurring way too frequently 
across the United States. Just over two years ago, nine people were 
killed by a gunman in the Charleston Emanuel AME Church. And just last 
month we saw the worst mass shooting in modern American history in Las 
Vegas, with 58 people murdered and over 500 wounded. In Chicago, at 
least 29 people were shot, five fatally, over this past weekend.
  There are things that we need to do, and that only we can do in 
Congress, to make the laws better and safer.
  I respect the Second Amendment. I respect the fact that there are men 
and women in my family, friends, and people I represent across Illinois 
who own guns and use them safely and responsibly. We have sportsmen and 
hunters in my family. We have people who buy guns for sporting purposes 
and for self-defense. They store the guns carefully and safely. They 
take very seriously that they are dealing with a deadly weapon. They 
don't want anyone innocent to be hurt. I respect that very much. I 
think we all should. But I also call on them now. They need to lead us 
into a more sensible policy when it comes to gun safety.
  Owners of firearms, overwhelmingly, when asked, believe we should 
have comprehensive background checks to keep guns out of the hands of 
those who misuse them. Overwhelmingly, a majority of gun owners feel 
that way, as most Americans feel. Why can't we do that? We certainly 
know it is within our power.
  In my State of Illinois, in the city of Chicago, we are approaching 
600 homicides this year--600--most of them from gunfire. It is 
heartbreaking. That doesn't include those who were injured by being 
shot as well. Where are these guns coming from? There are no gun stores 
in the city of Chicago. That is true. But when it comes to purchasing 
guns, it makes no difference. The suburbs have plenty of gun dealers. 
Of course, there are gun shows in neighboring States, like Indiana. We 
also know gun stores in the suburbs of Chicago supply 25 percent of the 
identified crime guns. We know many of those are sold in what is known 
as a straw purchase. They are sold to someone who buys a gun for 
someone who is not legally qualified. It is a girlfriend or someone who 
buys a gun because she has no criminal record so her boyfriend can use 
it--misuse it--and kill innocent people. Can't we toughen that law and 
make sure there are real penalties for straw purchases? That is not 
going to slow down any legitimate gun owner or anyone who wants to use 
a gun in a responsible fashion. That is one thing we can do.
  Then there is the gun show loophole. We know, with Columbine and 
other places, that it was a gun show loophole that opened the way for 
the purchase of guns that killed innocent people. Let's do something 
about that. We should. If we are serious, we should.
  We also know that the 1996 Lautenberg amendment prohibits convicted 
domestic abusers from buying or using guns. That applies, as well, to 
military personnel. Questions need to be asked and answered about this 
shooter in Texas and what happened after he was court-martialed for 
domestic abuse in the Air Force in 2012. How did he purchase a gun 
after that, in violation of the Lautenberg amendment?
  We need to also ask why in the world anyone needs to own an assault 
weapon. I understand people buy rifles and shotguns and even handguns 
for sporting and self-defense. But why does anyone need to own a 
military-style weapon--one that can be converted, as we found in Las 
Vegas, to a weapon that discharges 100 rounds in 7 seconds?

[[Page S7031]]

That is totally unnecessary for any legitimate legal purpose. It is 
available, perhaps, for military use, perhaps, for law enforcement but 
not for the ordinary American citizen who would purchase and own a gun 
for legitimate purposes.

  Next, we need to make sure that we understand why gun violence is 
growing in America. The number of people who have been killed or 
injured just grows by the year. It is getting worse. According to a CDC 
report issued just last week, gun deaths increased for the second year 
in a row last year. There were more than 38,000 gun deaths in 2016, up 
from 36,000 in 2015 and from 33,500 the year before that. We are 
experiencing a public health crisis of gun violence in America, 
according to the American Medical Association.
  Of course, there is no single law or policy that would prevent every 
shooting death, just as there is no single law or policy that would 
prevent every drug overdose death. But we have to start working 
together, on a bipartisan basis, to bring these shooting numbers down.
  We need to also talk about the issue of mental health, raised by the 
President in response to this tragedy in Texas. The President said:

       This isn't a guns situation. . . . I think that mental 
     health is your problem here.

  Despite the fact that most violence in the United States has nothing 
to do with mental illness, many are arguing that mental health is 
really the issue. What have we done in the Senate when it comes to 
mental health and guns this year? Senate Republicans used the CRA to 
repeal a regulation that directed the Social Security Administration to 
share mental illness information with the background check compilation 
of information. There was advocacy for massive cuts to Medicaid, which 
would throw millions of people with mental health needs off coverage. 
There was an attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would 
have allowed insurers to refuse coverage of essential health benefits, 
including mental health treatment. And there was a refusal to provide 
additional Federal funding to help provide mental health care. We don't 
have a very good record this year in the Senate when it comes to taking 
mental illness seriously, and we should.
  I will also introduce a bill that I am working on to encourage more 
crime-gun tracing in light of last week's crime-gun trace report from 
the Chicago Police Department.
  We focus on terrorism and what it does to our country, and we should. 
That is our responsibility. Anyone who would do harm to innocent 
Americans--as in 9/11, killing 3,000 in that particular instance--needs 
to be taken extremely seriously by all of us in Congress and in the 
White House. Foreign sources of terrorism need to be carefully watched 
when it comes to our border security, when it comes to background 
checks, and the like. But let's be honest. More Americans are dying 
from Americans killing Americans with guns than by terrorist activity. 
It is just as much a death as any foreign terrorist threat would be, 
and we need to consider it just as seriously as we do when it comes to 
the issues of terrorism and safety for the people of America.
  Why doesn't the Congress take this up? Why don't we even have a 
debate? I am on the Senate Judiciary Committee. We have not had a 
single bill this year that addresses gun safety--not one--despite the 
gun violence that takes place every day and despite tragedies like this 
tragedy over the weekend in Sutherland Springs, TX.
  Every time a terrible shooting occurs, Republican leaders in Congress 
say now is not the time to act. And then Congress never acts.
  Congress still has not acted to close the 72-hour background check 
loophole that allowed the Charleston church shooter to buy his gun in 
2015.
  Congress has done nothing to address the bump stocks that enabled the 
Las Vegas shooter to turn a concert into a war zone.
  Congress still hasn't even addressed the gun show loophole that 
allowed the Columbine shooters to commit that massacre back in 1999.
  Will Congress act in response to this latest tragedy? Will the 
Republicans who control Congress finally stand up to the gun lobby and 
put legislation on the floor to bring down the number of gun deaths? Or 
will the Republican-controlled Congress ignore this public health 
crisis once again?
  The Republicans in Congress are rushing to pass massive changes to 
our tax code in a matter of weeks, and yet they refuse to do anything 
to prevent the next mass shooting. If the Republicans treated this gun 
violence epidemic with a fraction of the urgency they are showing when 
it comes to cutting taxes for the wealthiest one percent and the 
largest corporations, we could save many lives.
  I pray for the victims of gun violence in this nation, but I also 
pray that my colleagues will act to reduce this gun violence epidemic.

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