[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 97 (Tuesday, June 12, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3757-S3758]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF THE PULSE NIGHTCLUB SHOOTING

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise to solemnly remember the 49 
individuals who died and the 53 who were wounded at Pulse Orlando, an 
LGBT nightclub in Orlando, FL, 2 years ago.
  I will never forget waking up in the early hours that Sunday, to hear 
that a 29-year-old gunman, armed with a Sig Sauer MCX assault rifle, 
walked into a nightclub and massacred 49 individuals in one of the 
deadliest mass shootings ever witnessed in our country.
  To this day, so many lives impacted from the attack are still on the 
long road to recovery and healing. To all of the families and loved 
ones of those who were lost and injured during the attack, please 
continue to accept my deepest condolences.
  Please also know I will not rest until our country is safe from gun 
violence. We cannot simply sit back and do nothing while mass shootings 
continue to devastate our communities, our places of worship, our music 
venues, our schools, and our workplaces.
  In the days that followed the Pulse nightclub attack, I, along with 
Senator Nelson and a number of my colleagues, resurrected calls for 
legislation to allow the FBI to deny gun transfers to known or 
suspected terrorists who pose a public safety risk.
  The legislation was a direct response to Pulse. In fact, the gunman 
in Orlando was ISIL-inspired and fueled by hateful extremism and had 
previously been placed on the FBI's Terrorist Watchlist after earlier 
investigative warnings to the FBI were made about him.
  And, yet, the man was allowed to walk into a gun store, pass a 
background check without any notification to the FBI, and walk out with 
a Sig Sauer MCX, a modern assault rifle with devastating killing 
capability.
  Alarming statistics over a 10-year period demonstrate that, from 
February 2004 through December 2014, there were 2,233 cases in which a 
known or suspected terrorist identified in Federal terrorist watchlist 
records attempted to buy or receive a gun or explosives.
  In 91 percent of these cases--a total of 2,043 different times--the 
known or suspected terrorist was cleared to buy or receive the firearm 
or explosives. In 2013 and 2014 alone, FBI data specifically showed 
that individuals on terrorist watchlists were involved in firearm-
related background checks 485 times, and 455 of those--about 94 
percent--were allowed to proceed.
  It appeared there was widespread agreement to finally take action and 
ensure that no one who is a known or suspected terrorist, with ISIL 
affiliations, would be allowed to walk into a gun store and pass a 
Federal background check to obtain a gun. However, because of the gun 
lobby's strident opposition, and Republican submission to that 
opposition, the legislation withered and failed.
  Unfortunately, the problem of mass shootings has continued to 
devastate this Nation. In October 2017 in Las Vegas, a single gunman 
with multiple assault rifles outfitted with bump stocks killed 58 
people gathered to listen to a concert from his hotel room window. 
Numerous eyewitness accounts described the scene as a ``warzone.''
  In Sutherland Springs, TX, in November 2017, a gunman walked into a 
church sanctuary on a Sunday, and killed 26 people, ranging from the 
elderly to young children.
  Earlier this year, a 19-year-old gunman who legally purchased an AR-
15 style rifle just after his 18th birthday used it to kill 14 of his 
former high school classmates and three educators at Marjory Stoneman 
Douglas High School in Parkland, FL.
  These shootings are heartbreaking. Time and again, I have stood here 
to ask my colleagues to show courage, to stand up to the gun lobby, and 
do something. These calls are only growing louder. Young people are now 
also taking to the streets like never before and demanding action.
  They are calling for weapons of war to be taken off of our streets, 
and they are calling for universal background checks. They are fighting 
for changes to our laws because they don't want to live in a country 
where although we are 4.4 percent of the world's population, we possess 
over 44 percent of the world's firearms.

[[Page S3758]]

  They don't want to live in a country where it is more politically 
expedient to bar doorways at schools, rather than ban assault weapons. 
They are calling for lawmakers to stand up and do what is right: to 
close loopholes in our gun laws and decisively take steps so they feel 
safe in their schools, their churches, and their communities.
  Their sentiment is captured powerfully in an article I would like to 
share, that was written by Glennon Doyle Melton, an author and mother 
of three children.
  ``Two weeks ago, my second and fourth grade daughters came home from 
school and told me that they'd had a code red drill... In case someone 
tries to kill us. We had to all hide in the bathroom together and be 
really quiet. It was really scary but the teacher said if there was a 
real man with a gun trying to find us, she'd cover us up and protect us 
from him. Tommy started crying. I tried to be brave.''
  She continued: ``My three-year-old nephew had the same drill at his 
preschool in Virginia. Three-year-old American babies and teachers--
hiding in bathrooms, holding hands, preparing for death. We are saying 
to teachers: arm yourselves and fight men with assault weapons because 
we are too cowardly to fight the gun lobby.
  ``We are saying to a terrified generation of American children--We 
will not do what it takes to protect you. We will not even try. So just 
be very quiet, hide and wait. Hold your breath. Shhh.''
  By failing to act, year after year, these children all across our 
country are being forced to live in fear and have these kinds of 
``trainings.''
  We are asking our teachers to not focus on teaching math and English, 
but to wield weapons and fight off those armed to the teeth with 
military-style weapons. That can't be the solution.
  We can no longer remain silent. We can no longer do nothing. We must 
stand up and fight. Our children and the generations to come demand it. 
I hope we will finally take action and pass these commonsense bills.

                          ____________________