[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 149 (Tuesday, September 17, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5509-S5511]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Gun Control Measures
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Madam President, to my right is an August 11, 2019,
cover from the Washington Post. It shows the faces of the 423 people
killed in mass shootings between the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012 and
the recent shooting in Dayton, OH. This is more than a third of the
1,196 people killed in mass shootings since 1966, so shootings have
grown dramatically in this country. This should not be the face of
America.
I think we have got to do much more to stop the plague of gun
violence that continues to take the lives of the most innocent among
us, including the 20 small beautiful children who lost their lives that
December in Newtown. I have their photo at home, and I look at it
almost every day, and it is indeed a heartbreaker.
Today, I would like to speak about a few bills that I believe the
Senate should be voting on right now. Specifically, we should be voting
on requiring universal background checks, banning assault weapons,
banning high-capacity magazines, and supporting enactment of extreme
risk laws.
The House passed a strong bill on universal background checks that
has been sitting on Leader McConnell's desk now for more than 200 days.
According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, 89 percent of Americans
support universal background checks, and that includes 83 percent of
Republicans; yet that bill sits on Leader McConnell's desk.
We have seen even more lives lost in the last several weeks while
this bill languishes on the Senate calendar. The shootings in Gilroy,
Dayton, El Paso, Midland-Odessa took the lives of 41 people, including
a 6-year-old boy named Steven Romero. A background check could have
prevented the shooter in Odessa and Midland from getting his gun.
Unfortunately, he was able to purchase a firearm through a private
sale that does not require a background check, and still, we wait for a
vote on this bill to close the gaping loopholes of our background check
system. Please, Leader McConnell, let us vote on this bill.
Sadly, what has become all too common is that each of the shootings I
mentioned involved an assault weapon. The Gilroy shooter used a WASR
10, which is an AK-47 style semiautomatic weapon. The rifle was
equipped with a 75-round drum magazine. In this case, the shooter
intentionally crossed into Nevada to purchase the gun, as the sale of
assault weapons is banned in California. The Dayton shooter used an
AM15 assault rifle equipped with a 100-round drum magazine. The El Paso
shooter also used a WASR 10 rifle, and the shooter in Midland and
Odessa used an AR-15-style rifle.
These are weapons of war, plain and simple. Their main function is to
kill as many people as possible. In fact, in two of these shootings--
Gilroy and Dayton--law enforcement arrived in less than a minute, but
in that time, dozens of people had been injured or killed.
I strongly believe that reinstating the Federal ban on assault
weapons could have saved some of the lives that have been recently
lost. As the New York Times reported in an op-ed titled, ``That Assault
Weapons Ban? It Really Did Work,'' data shows that, compared with the
decade before its adoption, the Federal assault weapons ban, in effect
from September 1994 through 2004, was associated with a 25-percent drop
in gun massacres--a massacre is from 6 to 8 people--and a 40-percent
drop in fatalities from 81 to 49. We need to reinstate the Federal
assault weapons ban. It worked before, and it will work again.
We also need to ban high-capacity magazines. My legislation to ban
assault weapons includes this provision, and there are standalone bills
as well. Just a few weeks ago, at Northern Police Station in San
Francisco, I had the opportunity to examine a 100-round magazine
personally--two rounds that fit on a rifle or a revolver. I couldn't
believe it, 100 rounds that could be used just round after round after
round so easily. It is lightweight. It is simple to use. It is
diabolical. And the only purpose of it is to kill as many people as
possible as fast as possible.
Keeping high-capacity magazines out of the hands of mass shooters is
particularly important because, many times, shootings are only stopped
when the shooter has to pause and reload. In 2011, the shooter in
Tucson, who shot then-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was only
stopped when bystanders wrestled the shooter to the ground after he
stopped firing to reload. Civilians have no use for these devices, so
all they are doing is costing innocent life.
Finally, the Senate should be considering legislation on extreme risk
laws. Seventeen States and the District of Columbia already have them.
These laws allow family members and law enforcement to go to court
before a judge and get a temporary lawful order to keep a gun out of
the hands of someone who is dangerous. These orders involve judicial
findings, presentation of evidence, and court proceedings that protect
people's due process rights. There is legislation, too. It is called
the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2019. It would create new
grants to incentivize States to enact their own extreme risk laws.
The House Judiciary Committee recently passed companion legislation,
and polls have shown the majority of Americans support these measures.
According to the same Washington Post-ABC News poll I mentioned
earlier, 86 percent of Americans support these measures--86 percent,
including 85 percent of Republicans.
I hope Members will listen to this because these are needless deaths
and
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needless murders. They need not have happened. Simply put, this body
and the Senate Judiciary Committee should really be taking action today
to protect against gun violence.
Last week, the House Judiciary Committee passed three bills that
would ban high-capacity magazines, would prohibit people convicted of
hate crimes from possessing firearms, and would incentivize States to
create extreme risk laws. I am so disappointed our colleagues on the
other side of the aisle have blocked these commonsense measures for
years, and I would appeal to them: Please, it is time for us to act. We
cannot let another mass shooting go by and not take even these simple
steps.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. COONS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Blackburn). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. COONS. Madam President, I come to the floor to recognize the
critical moment that is before us as a country. We have an opportunity
to make real progress on bipartisan gun reforms that will help keep our
communities safer while respecting our treasured Second Amendment
rights.
America's epidemic of gun violence continues to devastate communities
and families across our Nation. Last month, in just August alone, mass
shootings in El Paso, in Dayton, and in Odessa claimed the lives of
more than 50 innocent Americans. Individual Americans, meanwhile, fall
victim to gun violence every single day. Whether through suicide or
homicide, they take far too many lives far too early. Just this past
weekend, four Delawareans in my hometown were shot, and in 2017, up and
down my home State, 111 Delawareans were killed by firearms. Guns are
now the third leading cause of death for Delaware's children under age
17.
Folks, these are not just numbers; each gun death is a son, a
daughter, a neighbor, a congregation member, or a friend.
In a recent meeting with Moms Demand Action in my office in
Wilmington, I listened to young parents who were confronting for the
first time the reality of active shooter drills in schools as they sent
their children to school for the first time and had them come home and
ask questions about why we as parents could not do more to keep them
safe in school.
Viewing this ongoing crisis through the eyes of our children--those
who are told to be quiet, to hide in a closet, to wait out a moment of
sheer terror--is a reminder that our children are scared, that our
families are scared, that our neighbors are scared, and that we can and
must do more to address this epidemic.
Some of the most crucial steps we take must be taken at the Federal
level. Yet, to make progress, the party that controls this body and
this floor has to join hands with those of us in my party--those
willing to work across the aisle in a responsible way--and lead.
Frankly, more than anything else, as has been said by the Republican
majority leader, President Trump needs to take a clear and firm
position and stick to it. The American people deserve no less. If this
body is going to take up and pass gun control legislation, it will
require our President to lead.
I think bringing bipartisan bills to the floor here for a vote is a
great place to start. I want to talk for a few minutes about one of
those bills that I introduced with Republican Senator Pat Toomey, of
the neighboring Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, called the NICS Denial
Notification Act.
It has a simple objective. For those who are prohibited by law from
owning a weapon--those who are convicted felons or who have been
adjudicated mentally ill--but who go to a firearms dealer, fill out the
background check form, lie on it, and say they are able to buy a gun
but get denied, get turned down once that NICS background check is run,
what do you think happens with that information? Where does the
information go showing that convicted felons are trying to buy weapons
once they have been denied?
In my home State, it goes nowhere. In 34 States, it goes nowhere. In
States across the country, not just in Delaware but in New York,
Kentucky, and Texas, local law enforcement may never learn about a
convicted felon who is actively trying to buy a gun and who is often
committing another offense by lying about it in that attempt. Our bill
would fix that.
It requires Federal authorities to alert State law enforcement of any
background check denial so State authorities can decide whether to
investigate or to prosecute or to go and pay a visit to someone given
this important and imminent sign of an intention to engage in criminal
activity.
It also requires our Federal Department of Justice to publish an
annual report with statistics about its prosecution of background check
denial cases so we in Congress and so folks around the country can
better enforce our existing gun laws.
What I hear, time and again in townhalls back home in Delaware, is
that folks want us to enforce our existing gun laws more thoroughly and
more wisely, and that is exactly what this proposal would do.
In Delaware, I have met with and heard from law enforcement leaders
up and down our State. The chiefs of police from our State police, our
county police, and our municipal police have uniformly said they would
welcome the information of those convicted felons in their towns, in
their counties, or in our State who are trying to get their hands on
guns.
At a hearing back in May in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chairman
Lindsey Graham said this proposal was a painfully obvious bipartisan
bill that we should take up and pass. He has committed to me that he
would like to see it pass committee. There are a lot of other Senators
who agree, not just Democrats like Senators Duckworth, Jones, and
Klobuchar but also friends from across the aisle. Senators Perdue,
Rubio, and Collins have joined in cosponsoring this, and I know there
are other Senators who are eager or who are willing to join in the days
ahead. The NICS Denial Notification Act is exactly the sort of
commonsense, narrowly crafted bipartisan bill that would pass the
Senate tomorrow if Leader McConnell would bring it to the floor for a
vote.
Simply put, bills like this and bills such as we discussed at that
hearing on the Committee on the Judiciary regarding extreme risk
protection orders provide an appropriate way for there to be due
process protections for demonstrably mentally ill individuals who
threaten harm to others by having their guns removed from them for a
brief period or for there to be universal background checks, such as
legislation that advanced in the House 6 months ago on a bipartisan
basis. These sorts of proposals can help to keep guns away from people
who should not have them.
It is clear to me, from poll after poll, survey after survey, and
tragic story after tragic story, that the American people want us to
act, and they want us to act on background checks. We should vote on
the Senate companion to H.R. 8. It is long past time for our leader,
the majority leader, to join with the majority of the country and put
that bill on the Senate floor.
Just last week, the House Committee on the Judiciary passed the Keep
Americans Safe Act, which would prohibit the high-capacity magazines
that have been used in so many of these recent, tragic mass shootings.
If the leader were to bring this to the floor and it were to pass, it,
along with all of the other bills I just referenced, would help to save
lives.
It is my hope that our President will see this moment as an
opportunity for real leadership and will listen to the majority of
Americans, the majority of Democrats, the majority of Republicans, and
the majority of gun owners who would like to see us act in a
responsible and bipartisan way in order to reduce the easy access
criminals have to guns and will take an important step forward in
making our country, our schools, our communities, and our families
safe.
What I hear back home in Delaware is that the overwhelming majority
of Americans are sick and tired of our thoughts and prayers after every
shooting. They would be so much more
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inspired if we actually took the risk of enacting legislation together.
I think it is long past time for us to do just that, and I hope we will
in the days ahead.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. BLUNT. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Howery
nomination?
Mr. LANKFORD. Madam President, 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 legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander) and the Senator from Kansas (Mr.
Roberts).
Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr.
Alexander) would have voted ``yea.''
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Booker),
the Senator from California (Ms. Harris), the Senator from Vermont (Mr.
Sanders), and the Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) are
necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cassidy). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 62, nays 32, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 285 Ex.]
YEAS--62
Barrasso
Blackburn
Blunt
Boozman
Braun
Burr
Capito
Cassidy
Collins
Coons
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Enzi
Ernst
Fischer
Gardner
Graham
Grassley
Hassan
Hawley
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Inhofe
Isakson
Johnson
Jones
Kaine
Kennedy
King
Lankford
Lee
Manchin
McConnell
McSally
Merkley
Moran
Murkowski
Murphy
Paul
Perdue
Portman
Risch
Romney
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Shaheen
Shelby
Sinema
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Toomey
Warner
Wicker
Young
NAYS--32
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Feinstein
Gillibrand
Heinrich
Hirono
Klobuchar
Leahy
Markey
Menendez
Murray
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Schatz
Schumer
Smith
Stabenow
Tester
Udall
Van Hollen
Whitehouse
Wyden
NOT VOTING--6
Alexander
Booker
Harris
Roberts
Sanders
Warren
The nomination was confirmed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motions to
reconsider are considered made and laid upon the table, and the
President will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the
remaining votes in this series be 10 minutes in length.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________