[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 37 (Thursday, March 1, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1296-S1298]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Gun Violence

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, on Friday, I visited Wilde Lake High 
School in Columbia, which is located in Howard County, MD, between 
Washington and Baltimore. I wanted to talk to students about the tragic 
Valentine's Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in 
Parkland, FL, which left 17 students and faculty members dead. This is 
the deadliest high school shooting in American history. I went to Wilde 
Lake because one of their own teachers, Laura Wallen, was shot to death 
in September 2017, and her former boyfriend is now on trial for her 
murder.
  I was extremely impressed by the passion of these students. They had 
a great deal of interest in the subject matter; they were extremely 
articulate; and they asked great questions. I found it extremely 
encouraging for the future of Howard County, MD, and this Nation. These 
students are rightfully concerned about their safety and the safety of 
their classmates. It has been 2 weeks since a disturbed young man 
invaded Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
  The reaction seems to be like clockwork after each shooting. There is 
bipartisan shock, anger, and horror. Predictably, the question comes 
out: Will this time be different? The answer for the Republican leaders 
in Congress has always been ``no'' as the outrage and call to act 
quickly falls back to NRA talking points versus reality. This time, the 
students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and the students in 
Maryland and across the country are not taking ``no'' as the final 
word. This time, the survivors are leading the way and are speaking out 
in a forceful way like we have not heard before.
  Students like Ryan Deitsch, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High 
School, want to know why these students--the children--need to be the 
ones to speak out ``just to save innocent lives,'' he said. He wants to 
know why the adults cannot be the adults and do what is necessary to 
protect children.
  I think the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have had 
a clear, articulate message that this carnage needs to stop. They want 
to feel safe in their schools again. Armed with their cell phones and 
their stories, they have taken up the banner of hashtag ``never again'' 
and are changing the face of this debate to make this country safer 
from gun violence.
  Alex Wind, another survivor from Stoneman Douglas, laid out the 
larger problem of why students are mobilizing:

       We're marching because it's not just schools. It's movie 
     theaters, it's concerts, it's nightclubs. This kind of stuff 
     can't just happen. You know, we are marching for our lives, 
     we're marching for the 17 lives we lost. And we're marching 
     for our children's lives and our children's children and 
     their children.

  So what can we do?
  There are several pieces of legislation that are ready to go. The 
Democrats and some Republicans have been willing and ready to act. 
Leader McConnell could move any one of these bills right now. Let's 
start by making it clear that weapons of war are not needed by 
civilians of any age. I have cosponsored S. 2095, the Assault Weapons 
Ban of 2017, offered by Senator Feinstein.
  This legislation would, one, ban the sale, manufacture, transfer, and 
importation of military style assault weapons; two, ban any assault 
weapon that accepts a detachable ammunition magazine and has one or 
more military characteristics; three, ban magazines and other 
ammunition feeding devices that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, 
which allow shooters to quickly fire many rounds without needing to 
reload.
  The bill also requires a background check on any future sale, trade, 
or gifting of an assault weapon that is covered by the bill, and it 
prohibits the transfer of high-capacity ammunition magazines. It also 
bans bump fire stocks and other devices that allow semiautomatic 
weapons to fire at fully automatic rates. Congress should also pass the 
Background Check Expansion Act, S. 2009, which I have cosponsored and 
has been offered by Senator Murphy.
  This bill would expand Federal background check requirements to 
include the sale or transfer of all firearms by private sellers, just 
as licensed dealers are required to conduct checks for sales under the 
existing Brady Law. The bill requires background checks for the sales 
or transfers of all firearms from one private party to another even if 
either party is not a federally licensed dealer. This requirement 
extends to all unlicensed sellers whether they do business online, at 
gun shows, or out of their homes.
  According to a recent poll, a record 97 percent of those surveyed 
said that they support requiring background checks for gun buyers--97 
percent. Why can't we get this done? It is not a heavy lift. Americans 
are with us on this. We need to recognize that saving children's lives 
is more important than the National Rifle Association.
  Congress also should ease restrictions on gun violence research and 
prevention efforts by removing onerous restrictions on the Centers for 
Disease Control research. We can improve States' sharing of information 
with Federal databases that screen gun buyers.
  At a townhall last week, Senator Rubio, when questioned by an 
audience of students and parents from Stoneman Douglas, said that ``the 
problems we are facing here today cannot be solved by gun laws alone.'' 
With that, I agree, but these gun laws will make a difference. Yes, 
there is no single solution, but we should be united in our willingness 
to do what we can to save lives.
  I agree with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle that we must 
devote more resources to mental health priorities to identify young 
people who may be about to cause harm to themselves or others.

[[Page S1297]]

  Let's attack this problem from multiple directions. We cannot raise 
our hands in the air and give up because there is no one law that can 
solve the problem. Sitting on the sidelines is not an option when our 
children are being killed, sometimes by other children, and 
surrendering to the false logic that the problem is too big to address 
falls well short of what the American people deserve. We were sent here 
to our Nation's Capitol to make the tough decisions and to do the right 
thing.
  I agree with Alex Wind that this problem we need to tackle is larger 
than simply school safety, but I would like to talk about that 
specifically for one moment.
  In an effort to turn the conversation away from an assault weapons 
ban or closing loopholes in background checks, the President decided to 
latch on to this idea that we should arm teachers and educators in our 
schools. We do not need, as President Trump has suggested, more guns in 
the schools, and we do not need teachers carrying guns. We do know that 
teachers are hired to teach, not to be security guards.
  Let's listen to our educators and say no to this proposal. The answer 
to keeping guns and gun violence out of our schools is not to bring 
more guns into the school. The students I talked to at Wilde Lake High 
School in Columbia, MD, understood that adding more guns would not help 
the situation and could lead to more problems in the schools 
themselves. They certainly want to see their buildings more secure, but 
we can do that through infrastructure improvements, technology, and 
school resource officers.
  Why are these things happening in the United States with such 
alarming frequency and not elsewhere around the world? Gun-related 
deaths unfold in tragic circumstances across this country daily, with 
more than 1,800 people killed by guns this year alone, according to the 
Gun Violence Archive, a not-for-profit group. Mass shootings often 
shine the spotlight on the United States and its position as a global 
outlier.
  The number of firearms available to American civilians is estimated 
to be around 310 million, according to the 2009 National Institute of 
Justice report.
  According to the Small Arms Survey, the exact number of civilian-
owned firearms is impossible to pinpoint because of a variety of 
factors, including arms that go unregistered due to illegal trade and 
global conflict. Estimates indicate that Americans own nearly half of 
the 650 million civilian-owned guns in the world today, which is nearly 
one gun for every man, woman, and child in the United States. Our 
Nation is well armed. India is home to the second-largest civilian 
firearm stockpile, estimated at 46 million.
  Americans own the most guns per person in the world, with about 4 in 
10 saying they either own a gun or live in a home where there is a gun, 
according to the 2017 Pew Center study. Forty-eight percent of 
Americans said they grew up in a house with guns. According to the 
survey, a majority--66 percent--of U.S. gun owners own multiple 
firearms. The No. 2 country in the world for the largest number of guns 
per capita is Yemen--a country that is in the throes of a 3-year-old 
civil war. They trail significantly behind us. They have 54 guns per 
100 in Yemen; we have 88 guns per 100 in the United States.
  When it comes to gun massacres, the United States is an anomaly. 
There are more public mass shootings in America than in any other 
country in the world. The United States makes up less than 5 percent of 
the world's population but holds 31 percent of global mass shooters. In 
Australia, for example, four mass shootings occurred between 1987 and 
1996. After those instances, public opinion turned against gun 
violence, and Parliament passed stricter gun safety laws. Australia 
hasn't had a mass shooting since.
  Gun safety laws work. The public demands that we take action to make 
our communities safer.
  Gun homicide rates are about 25 times higher in the United States 
than in other developed countries. The United States has one of the 
highest rates of death by firearms in the developed world, according to 
World Health Organization data. The calculations based on OECD data 
from 2010 show that Americans are 51 times more likely to be killed by 
gunfire than people in the UK.
  Most American gun owners say that a major reason they own a gun is 
for personal protection, according to the Pew study. However, the 
majority of firearms-related deaths are attributable to self-harm. Gun-
related suicides are eight times higher in the United States than in 
other high-income nations.
  Thinking of Stoneman Douglas High School, we all wonder out loud, 
what drove this young man to kill indiscriminantly? There is no one 
single reason, but that is no excuse for Congress and lawmakers in all 
of our States to remain frozen and fail to act to try to stop a future 
shooting from happening. If anything, it should be the impetus for us 
to move forward on many fronts and to take many actions to support our 
children and support our communities so more lives are not lost in such 
a violent way.
  We cannot allow the story of this shooting to end like all the others 
in recent history. We should have taken action after three students 
were killed and five wounded in December 1997 at a high school in West 
Paducah, KY. We should have taken action after two students opened fire 
on April 20, 1999, in Columbine High School in Littleton, CO, killing 
12 classmates and a teacher and wounding 26 others. We should have 
taken action after a gunman fatally shot 32 people in a dorm and 
classrooms at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA, on April 16, 2007.
  Columbine, Virginia Tech--for a period, these names became a code for 
some of the worst killings in our history. Nearly 5 years later, it 
happened again. Three students were killed and two wounded in a 
shooting on February 27, 2012, that started in a school cafeteria in 
Chardon, OH, as students waited for buses to other schools. Then there 
was Sandy Hook. I know we all remember a 20-year-old gunman, in 
December of 2012, killing 20 first grade children and 6 educators 
inside Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT--elementary school 
students. These were first graders, for goodness' sake, young children 
who should clearly have moved us to action. But no. The killings 
continued because the Republican leadership has been unwilling to budge 
from the NRA-approved message.

  We have had bipartisan support for some of this legislation, as we do 
today, but too many are so afraid of the NRA response that they lose 
sight of the fact that children are being killed right before our eyes.
  On September 8, 2016, a 14-year-old girl died of a self-inflicted 
gunshot wound after shooting and killing another female student at 
Alpine High School in West Texas.
  Just 20 days later, on September 28, a 6-year-old boy was fatally 
shot on the playground of Townville Elementary School in South Carolina 
by a 14-year-old boy who had just killed his father. Another child and 
a teacher were struck by bullets but survived.
  I know some of you are thinking: I haven't heard about these 
shootings. That is a problem in and of itself. School shootings have 
become so commonplace and so much a part of our lives that children 
dying in our schools may not make it into the paper. We might miss it. 
We cannot let this become commonplace. It cannot be the new norm.
  Another incident you may not have heard of happened last April. A 
gunman opened fire in the special education classroom of his estranged 
wife at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino, CA, killing her 
and an 8-year-old boy and wounding another child.
  In September of last year, in Rockford, WA, a 15-year-old boy was 
killed at Freeman High School and three female students were wounded 
when authorities say another 15-year-old boy opened fire with a 
handgun.
  In December of last year, two students at Aztec High School in New 
Mexico were killed by a gunman disguised as a student.
  Barely a month ago, in January, 2 students were killed and 14 wounded 
by gunfire when a student opened fire before classes began at Marshall 
County High School in West Kentucky. A 15-year-old--a 15-year-old--is 
being charged for this crime.
  This time, the survivors are speaking out in a forceful way like we 
have not

[[Page S1298]]

heard before. I think the students speaking out have had a clear, 
articulate message that this carnage needs to stop. I am not sure I 
know any lawmaker or American who would disagree with the idea that our 
students need to be safe in their schools. It means that we need to 
act--really act this time.
  Setting aside the outrageous idea of arming teachers, it has been 
heartening to see the President move in the direction of legislative 
solutions, such as expanding background checks and banning bump stocks. 
The devil is always in the details, and we will see how far the 
President is willing to stray from the NRA and whether the Republican 
leadership will back the President or remain on the sidelines of 
protecting the American people and especially our children.
  On that Valentine's Day, February 14, when I heard about the shooting 
in Parkland, FL, my immediate reaction was horror, pain, and outrage. 
How could we allow this to happen yet again? Schools should be a safe 
harbor for our children, not a place of killing and terror. I was in my 
office thinking about how tragic this is, not only for those who were 
killed but for all the children who were there. I am as frustrated as 
the people across this country. I want to pass commonsense gun safety 
legislation. Why shouldn't we get these military-style weapons off the 
streets?
  It is hard to know what will motivate the congressional leadership to 
bring up this issue, what will jar them to action. I want action. We 
may not solve the problem entirely, but we need to try. We need to do 
something.
  A new CNN poll released just this Sunday finds that 70 percent of 
Americans now back tougher gun laws. This is a huge jump from 52 
percent after the tragic, horrific October shootings in Las Vegas. This 
number includes 49 percent of Republicans, which I think is 
encouraging. Saving lives should not be a partisan issue. Commonsense 
gun safety legislation should not be a partisan issue.
  Public opinion polls may not be perfect, but they are generally 
helpful to show trends. Americans are getting it. It is time that we 
do. This trend toward protecting the American people, and especially 
our children, is moving in the right direction. The American people are 
letting their voices be heard on this issue.
  Thoughts and prayers might console the grieving for a moment, but 
action speaks louder and will have a lasting impact. From my hometown 
of Baltimore to the many towns across America that have had their names 
in the headlines because of gun-related tragedies or mass shootings, 
people are calling upon Congress to act.
  I don't care what the reasons are for a change of heart, but let's 
get bills on the floor. What we are proposing are logical next steps to 
address the deadly problem that has been festering in this country for 
too long. Too many young lives have been lost. Will this time be 
different?
  Mr. President, in honor of the victims of Marjory Stoneman Douglas 
High School, I ask unanimous consent that their names be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       Alyssa Alhadeff, 14; Scott Beigel, 35; Martin Duque 
     Anguiano, 14; Nicholas Dworet, 17; Aaron Feis, 37; Jaime 
     Guttenberg, 14; Chris Hixon, 49; Luke Hoyer, 15; Cara 
     Loughran, 14; Gina Montalto, 14; Joaquin Oliver, 17; Alaina 
     Petty, 14; Meadow Pollack, 18; Helena Ramsay, 17; Alex 
     Schachter, 14; Carmen Schentrup, 16; Peter Wang, 15.

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, to all the victims of gun violence who 
have preceded them, let's make the answer a resounding yes.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.