[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 34 (Monday, February 26, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E222]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. DONALD M. PAYNE, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, February 26, 2018

  Mr. PAYNE. There was a time when moments of silence, and thoughts and 
prayers meant something. That time has long passed.
  The Columbine High School massacre was nearly two decades ago. Sandy 
Hook was over five years ago. The Sutherland Springs and Las Vegas 
shootings were last year. Yet Congress did nothing to end gun violence 
in the United States.
  How many lives must be sacrificed at the altar of the gun lobby 
before Congress says enough is enough?
  Mass shootings have become all too common, and ordinary acts of 
violence are perpetrated on the streets every day. In fact, more 
Americans have died from guns in the United States since Dr. Martin 
Luther King, Jr., was assassinated than in all the wars this country 
has fought--starting with the American Revolution.
  Each day in this country, ninety-six Americans are killed with guns. 
Seven of those people are children and teenagers. And Black men are 
thirteen times more likely than a white man to be shot and killed with 
a gun.
  Gun safety is a civil rights issue. It is a human rights issue.
  Congress needs to take immediate action on the dozens of reasonable 
gun-safety bills pending in this legislative body. We must ban 
semiautomatic assault weapons. We must stop the online sale of bulk 
ammunition. And we need to strengthen and mandate universal background 
checks.
  But there's something else Congress can and must do. Congress must 
find creative ways to encourage people in the United States to 
voluntarily disarm. Research has shown that greater numbers of firearms 
result in higher numbers of firearm-related deaths.
  Over the past two weeks, reports and viral videos have shown many 
law-abiding gun owners expressing buyers' remorse and destroying their 
firearms. There is a movement underway in this country among gun owners 
to purge their firearms--particularly semiautomatic assault weapons--
before they can be used to harm people.
  That's why I introduced the Safer Neighborhoods Gun Buyback Act of 
2017 (H.R. 3613) last year--to encourage people to voluntarily disarm. 
Gun buyback programs have proven their worth in communities across the 
United States. Law enforcement supports safe gun buyback programs. And 
research has shown that fewer guns means fewer gun deaths. By providing 
grants to fund gun buyback programs, Congress can incentivize Americans 
to do the right thing and safely dispose of their semiautomatic assault 
weapons.
  There are dozens of gun safety bills active in this body that would 
make our streets, our schools, and our homes safer. It's time for us to 
declare never again. Congress cannot continue to do nothing. People are 
dying. We must do better by our children.

                          ____________________