[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 181 (Tuesday, November 7, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7036-S7038]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Texas Church Mass Shooting

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I come before this body a second day in a 
row to talk about an event that the Senator from Connecticut has been 
referring to that has shocked all of us. It has rattled us to the very 
core and shocked the conscience of the entire Nation.
  I didn't get a chance to hear everything he said about this today, 
but I was encouraged to hear him make comments about fixing the 
background check system, which I think failed us terribly here, and it 
failed, of course, the 26 people who lost their lives and the 20 more 
who were injured in this terrible shooting in Sutherland Springs, TX, 
during a Sunday morning church service at First Baptist Church.
  Of course, at times like these, we need to respect the right and the 
need of people to mourn and to grieve their loss and to express our 
solidarity with those families who were torn apart. One woman who has 
lived in Sutherland Springs for nearly 70 years described the community 
as a place where ``everybody knew everybody.'' She said that before 
Sunday, most people didn't even keep their doors locked because the 
town never experienced any significant crime. Well, now that has 
changed.
  Sutherland Springs has suffered at the hands of a man whom initial 
reports have described as having a known history of violence, a man 
whose victims included his own grandmother-in-law as well as the 
visiting pastor of the church. No community finds it easy to deal with 
unexpected heartbreaking

[[Page S7037]]

losses like this, but the fact that this crime involved so many tightly 
knit friends and neighbors and occurred in a house of worship on a 
Sunday morning and harmed so many innocent children makes the task much 
harder.
  As each new detail emerges from what is still an ongoing 
investigation, we need to study the whole puzzle and ask ourselves how 
this happened, why so many lives were lost, and what, if anything, 
could have been done to prevent it. We know, for example, that the 
gunman was court-martialed by the Air Force and convicted of 
seriousness domestic abuse, fracturing the skull of his own son. Under 
the relevant Federal law, the Gun Control Act of 1968, this should have 
prohibited him from ever purchasing a gun in the first place, but we 
know it didn't in this instance. This critically important information 
from the suspect's criminal history was not uploaded into the relevant 
background check databases even though a Federal law clearly requires 
that it be done.
  Finally and most troublingly, we know what happened next: Mr. Kelley 
unlawfully purchased four firearms after passing Federal background 
checks that did not turn up his Air Force convictions. Of course, the 
shooter lied on his paperwork. He was asked about these convictions--
that is part of the background check system--but because there was no 
record of it, he was able to lie his way into getting these firearms. 
This is very clearly a problem, and the Air Force has now admitted that 
Kelley's convictions should have barred him from ever purchasing or 
possessing firearms. What appears to have happened is that the records 
of the convictions were not uploaded into the National Instant Criminal 
Background Check System. They are required to be uploaded by Federal 
law already.
  There are still some questions to sift through, but I plan to 
introduce legislation--and I would be happy to work with my colleague 
from Connecticut--to ensure that all Federal Departments and Agencies, 
including the Department of Defense, upload the required conviction 
records into the national database. This legislation will also 
encourage, to the greatest extent possible under the Constitution, 
State and local governments to do the same. We can make the Federal 
Agencies do it. We can only request that the States do it, as the 
Senator from Connecticut pointed out earlier, and their record of 
compliance is lousy. It is lousy.
  Justice Department records indicate that some Federal Agencies and 
State governments are failing to comply with the Federal law. According 
to the Department of Justice, the number of these records that are 
actually uploaded is staggeringly low. That is unacceptable, and it 
must change.
  What is important to note, though, is that when the dust settles, the 
appropriate answers won't necessarily be the easy ones. The fact 
remains that under existing law, this atrocity should have been 
prevented. This gunman should not have been allowed to purchase 
firearms and should have been arrested when he tried to do so. We need 
to better understand why our existing laws didn't work in this 
instance, and that is what my proposed legislation will do. After 
analyzing the problem, we will try to ensure that everyone is complying 
with the law.
  In 2015, I introduced legislation called the Mental Health and Safe 
Communities Act that addressed a related issue: the failure of State 
and local authorities to upload valuable mental health records into the 
NICS background check database. I hope this demonstrates my willingness 
to work together with anybody who is willing to meet these problems 
head-on.
  Right now, we need time and clarity. We need to know and continue to 
study the facts. Then, as we have already started to do, we need to 
consider all existing laws and regulations, both State and Federal, in 
light of this new information.
  Mr. President, I know we are coming up on a deadline. I ask unanimous 
consent to speak for an additional 5 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, as we wait for additional details, I want 
to say a few more words about the strong community of Sutherland 
Springs, one just 35 miles from my hometown of San Antonio, TX, where I 
grew up.
  First Baptist Church, where the shooting occurred, has served as a 
mainstay in the town since 1926. It is the site of church services 
every Sunday, weddings, social gatherings, and even some funerals. We 
hope the First Baptist Church can bounce back from this tragedy, and I 
am confident they can because faith, hope, and love can never be 
extinguished no matter the depravity, the evil that tries.
  We are not sure what will happen to the building or the congregation 
itself, but no matter what, the unique spirit of this community will no 
doubt endure. I am hopeful that the town of Sutherland Springs will 
come back too. If people like Stephen Willeford are any indication, it 
will. Stephen, of course, is the plumber who managed to hit the gunman 
through a gap in his body armor. He was joined by Johnnie Langendorff. 
In a truck, the two chased the gunman at high speeds for 11 miles into 
neighboring Guadalupe County. What these two men displayed is that in 
the worst circumstances, we won't let evil have its way. We won't let 
sick individuals like this shooter escape the consequences of their 
crimes. Strangers will come together and act quickly and courageously 
to defend the communities they love and in which they live.
  Today I join Governor Abbott, my colleagues--Senator Cruz and 
Representative Henry Cuellar, in whose House district this occurred--
and so many other Texans in once again pledging my support to the 
people of Sutherland Springs. I send my thoughts and prayers to those 
who lost parents, children, friends, and relatives in this unbelievable 
act of evil.
  The biggest danger, though, is that we become numb and we just simply 
move on to other matters. We can't let that happen. As Sherry Pomeroy, 
the wife of the pastor at First Baptist, said yesterday, ``Please don't 
forget Sutherland Springs.'' And when we hear people ask us to do 
something about terrible tragedies like this, let's do what we can, 
working together in a bipartisan way, to fix the holes in what is 
already the law, which says that people like this shooter should never 
have gotten their hands on a firearm in the first place. But either 
through human error or some failure of the background check system, he 
was able to do so. We need to fix that, and hopefully, in doing so, we 
can bring some small sense of justice to the people who lost so much 
last Sunday in Sutherland Springs, TX.
  I yield back the remainder of my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, all time is yielded back.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Gibson 
nomination?
  Mr. ALEXANDER. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Kentucky (Mr. Paul).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. 
Menendez) is necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cruz). Are there any other Senators in the 
Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 91, nays 7, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 262 Ex.]

                                YEAS--91

     Alexander
     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Donnelly
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Flake
     Franken
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Hatch
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Heller
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kaine
     Kennedy
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Lee
     Manchin
     McCain
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Perdue
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Scott
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Stabenow
     Strange
     Sullivan
     Tester

[[Page S7038]]


     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                                NAYS--7

     Booker
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Markey
     Merkley
     Sanders
     Warren

                             NOT VOTING--2

     Menendez
     Paul
       
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the President 
will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

                          ____________________