[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 35 (Tuesday, February 27, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1248-S1249]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Ms. Heitkamp, Mr. Flake, Mr. 
        Heinrich, Mr. Toomey, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. King, Mr. Nelson, Mr. 
        Manchin, and Mr. Kaine):
  S. 2458. A bill to authorize the Attorney General to deny the 
transfer of firearms and explosives and Federal firearms and explosives 
licenses and permits to known or suspected terrorists; to the Committee 
on the Judiciary.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Terrorist 
Firearms Prevention Act, which would prohibit suspected or known 
terrorists from legally purchasing a firearm.
  I thank my colleagues--Senators Heitkamp, Flake, Heinrich, Toomey, 
Baldwin, King, Nelson, Manchin, and Kaine--for their cosponsorship of 
this bipartisan bill. I particularly recognize the leadership of 
Senator Heinrich, who has joined me on the floor this evening as we 
introduce the bill and explain it to our colleagues.
  Often referred to as ``no fly, no buy,'' this bill represents one of 
the sensible steps that we can take to reform our Nation's gun laws to 
better protect our people. Our bill is based on a simple principle: If 
you are considered to be too dangerous to board an airplane, then you 
are too dangerous to buy a firearm.
  Our legislation would grant the Attorney General the authority to 
block the purchase of a gun by a person who is on either the no-fly or 
the selectee list. Remarkably, current law does not prohibit a person 
known or suspected of engaging in terrorism from walking into a gun 
shop and buying a firearm. The no-fly list and the selectee list are 
the narrowest subsets of all of the government's terrorist watch lists. 
These lists include the names of individuals who pose the greatest 
threat of committing an act of terrorism against aviation, against our 
homeland, or against U.S. interests abroad. This bill would also 
provide an immediate alert to the FBI and to local law enforcement if 
an individual who has been on the government's terrorist watch list at 
any time during the past 5 years purchases a firearm.
  Our hearts are all broken by the horrific shootings of the students 
in Florida. There was another horrendous shooting in Florida in 2016 
that demonstrates why this look-back provision in this legislation is 
so important. The gunman, Omar Mateen, was on the selectee list for 
approximately 10 months, but he was no longer on the list when he 
purchased the 2 guns that he used to murder 49 people and injure scores 
more. If our bill had been enacted, the FBI would have been notified 
immediately when Omar Mateen purchased his first firearm in the weeks 
leading up to the shooting. Then the FBI would have been notified a 
second time that Mateen had sought to purchase additional firearms. 
Surely, that would have caused the FBI to reopen its investigation of 
Omar Mateen. If our proposal had been law at that time, perhaps that 
massacre might have been prevented.
  I note that our bill would provide robust due process procedures to 
protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans. Any 
American who would be denied a purchase under this bill would have the 
opportunity to petition a Federal district court and receive a decision 
within 14 days. If the government, which would have the burden of 
proof, would fail to prove its case, it would have to pay attorneys's 
fees for that individual, and, of course, the purchase of the firearm 
would go forward.
  In 2016, when the Senate voted on our bill, it won majority and 
bipartisan support. Our bill was endorsed by a distinguished group of 
military and intelligence leaders. I note that during the 2016 
Presidential debates, both candidates agreed with our principle of no 
fly, no buy. Surely, this is a sensible, reasonable policy around which 
we can build consensus.
  Another step that we can take right now is to pass legislation I 
introduced with Senator Leahy to explicitly outlaw straw purchasing. 
Straw purchasing is intended for one purpose only, and that is to put a 
gun into the hands of a criminal who cannot legally obtain one. Our 
bill, the Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act, would provide law 
enforcement with an effective tool to fight the violence that too often 
goes hand in hand with drug trafficking and gang-related crimes.
  Today, gun traffickers exploit weaknesses in our Federal laws by 
targeting individuals who can lawfully purchase firearms. Sadly, 
according to briefings that I have had from Federal officials, in the 
State of Maine gang members from other States have targeted addicts to 
go buy firearms for them, and then they swap firearms for drugs. Right 
now a straw purchaser can be prosecuted only for lying on a Federal 
form, which is treated far too often as just a paperwork violation. 
Instead of a slap on the wrist, our bill would create new, specific 
criminal offenses for straw purchasing and trafficking, punishable by 
hefty prison terms, particularly for those who have reason to believe 
that the firearms will be used to commit violent crimes.
  Our bill would also outlaw firearms and ammunition smuggling out of 
the United States to another country. That is vitally important for 
combating drug trafficking near and across our southern border, which 
is contributing to the heroin crisis here at home.
  Let me again be clear that the bill I have introduced with Senator 
Leahy protects the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.
  These are just two commonsense reforms that we can pass while fully 
protecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans. We can 
make it as difficult for a terrorist to obtain a gun as it is for him 
to board an airplane. We can outlaw straw purchasing by increasing the 
penalties to make a real difference. I urge my colleagues to support 
both the bipartisan Terrorist Firearms Prevention Act and the straw 
purchasing bill, as well as other commonsense reforms.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, I want to start by thanking my 
colleague, Senator Collins of Maine, for her work in crafting this 
legislation and the language of this bill and, more generally, for her 
leadership, formerly on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 
Committee and certainly for the time that I have been on the 
Intelligence Committee. Her contributions have not gone unnoticed, and 
she has been a pleasure to work with in trying to find reasonable 
places where we can make a material difference in the kinds of mass 
shootings we have seen.
  I should start by speaking a little bit to the recent tragedy in 
Florida. As the father of two young boys, I can't begin to imagine the 
nightmare that families are living through as they mourn the loss of 
their children in the wake of yet another horrific mass shooting.
  Frankly, no parent should have to live in fear of their child not 
coming home from school. It is pretty unthinkable.
  Just last week, one of my own sons went through an active shooter 
training at his school. Sadly, that is now the new norm in schools all 
across our country. In fact, 91 Americans are killed each day by gun 
violence, and we simply cannot accept the status quo as the new normal 
when there are real

[[Page S1249]]

and concrete steps we can take to reduce gun violence while respecting 
constitutional rights.
  Once again, Americans are looking to Congress to finally enact 
commonsense reforms to our gun laws, to protect our schools, to protect 
our children, to protect our communities. Like so many Americans, I 
have been deeply moved by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School 
students and young people all across this country who have spoken out 
after losing classmates and friends to demand that we as lawmakers take 
action to prevent future tragedies.
  It is no secret to my constituents or even my colleagues here that I 
am a passionate outdoorsman, hunter, and owner of firearms. I strongly 
believe that law-abiding Americans have a right to own guns for sport 
and self-defense. I am teaching my own sons how to safely and 
responsibly use those firearms. The vast majority of Americans, 
including gun owners like me, know that Congress must take action to 
close loopholes and reform our laws to keep those deadly weapons out of 
the hands of those who would turn them against our communities.
  Today I am quite proud to join my colleagues from both sides of the 
aisle--Senators Collins, Heitkamp, Flake, and others--to introduce one 
of those measures that should have broad bipartisan support. This is a 
poster child for the kind of policy that ought to get across the finish 
line even in these deeply divided, partisan times.
  Our bipartisan legislation, the Terrorist Firearms Prevention Act, 
would deny firearms sales to individuals who appear on the Department 
of Justice's no-fly or selectee lists. These are the narrowest of 
databases, the kinds of lists one would have to work pretty hard to 
land on, and for good reason. Our legislation includes due process 
procedures for individuals to appeal their placement on those lists.
  It seems pretty straightforward to most of my constituents that if 
the government and law enforcement have determined that an individual 
is so dangerous as to land on the terrorist watch list and is too 
dangerous to fly on a commercial airplane, that person should not be 
able to walk into a gun shop and purchase a gun. But unless we pass 
this legislation, this glaring loophole will continue to allow 
individuals identified as terror suspects to buy firearms.
  It is time for those Members of Congress who oppose commonsense 
reforms like this to finally step up and tell us what they are doing to 
protect the public. It is time for all of us to listen to the student 
leaders across this country who are rejecting the unacceptable status 
quo of our Nation's gun violence epidemic.
  Those of us in the Senate who know firearms well have a special duty 
to lead these efforts and to get the details right on any legislation 
to reshape our Nation's gun laws. Inaction simply won't cut it anymore. 
We all need to listen to these students, parents, teachers, and to our 
own children who are calling on us to be part of the solution.
  New Mexicans can count on me, despite the odds, to continue fighting 
for real solutions to keep our children safe, to reduce gun violence, 
and to keep our communities safe. That is what our communities and our 
constituents deserve.
  Thank you.
                                 ______