[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 151 (Thursday, September 19, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5589-S5590]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Background Checks
Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, in February of this year, the House of
Representatives passed what is known as the universal background check
in regard to gun sales. Since that time, the Senate has had no action
whatsoever on gun safety issues. Leader McConnell could bring this bill
to the floor, and I am confident we have the support to pass it.
I do hear from many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle
that we are waiting for the President, and unless the President signs
off on a bill, they are not interested in bringing it up. The last time
I checked the Constitution of the United States, the first article of
the Constitution provides for the legislative branch of government, and
that is us. We make the laws, not the President of the United States.
It is up to us to deliver and consider legislation and pass
legislation. Yet there is no action from the floor of the Senate.
Leader McConnell will not bring up gun safety legislation.
Every day we wait--every single day--100 people in America die from
gun violence. That is why many of us are frequently speaking on the
floor of the Senate about the need to consider gun safety legislation.
It has been over 200 days since the House took bipartisan action on
the universal background checks. Since that time, we have seen many
mass shootings, including on August 3 in El Paso, August 4 in Dayton,
and August 31 in Odessa. There is no action on the floor of the Senate.
Every day, there are people dying in our communities and in our homes
from gun violence. Yet there is no action on the floor of the Senate.
The United States is an outlier among the developed nations in the
world. We have 10 times, 20 times, 30 times more instances of gun
violence than in developed countries in the world. We have more guns in
private ownership than the people of developed worlds, more suicides,
more mass shootings, more gun violence. Yet there is no action on the
floor of the Senate.
The issue is kind of simple. Inaction is not an answer to gun
violence in America. Americans are expecting us--the Members of the
Senate--to consider gun safety legislation. We want the majority leader
to bring that bill to the floor today before another 100 people die.
Let us take action.
I mentioned several times the bill that passed the House of
Representatives over 200 days ago, the universal background checks. Let
me just talk a moment about why that bill needs to be considered and
passed as soon as possible. In 1993, we passed the Brady Handgun
Violence Prevention Act. It provides for a presale check as to whether
an individual is entitled to own a handgun. As I am sure my colleagues
are aware, the Supreme Court of the United States has determined that
the Second Amendment is not absolute. If you have been convicted of a
violent crime, if you have mental issues, you are not entitled to have
a handgun. The Brady presale check determines whether you fall into
those categories, and they will deny you the right to buy a handgun if
you do.
Since its inception in 1993, 3 million sales have been stopped. It
works. It is compliant with the Supreme Court, and it doesn't interfere
with legitimate Second Amendment rights. It was passed in 1993. It is
now 2019. Sellers of handguns have figured out a way to get around the
1993 law with private sales, gun shows, and internet sales. We didn't
have internet gun sales in 1993. We need to close those loopholes.
Here is the situation. Some States have done this. In the States that
have done it, we see that the results are favorable. There is less gun
violence in those States that have passed universal background checks.
However, let me just tell you about the State of Maryland. Of the guns
that are recovered from crime scenes in Maryland, 53 percent are guns
that were acquired in a State outside of Maryland. We need universal
background checks in order to provide the types of results that can
keep our communities safer by keeping guns out of the hands of people
who are not entitled to have guns.
How do the American people feel about this? There are 90-plus percent
who believe that we should have universal background checks. Yet there
has been no action on the floor of the U.S. Senate. The Republican
leader will not bring the bill to the floor. This is a bill that should
have been passed a long time ago. Every day that we delay, there are
another 100 deaths from gun violence.
We shouldn't stop there. We should deal with assault-style military
weapons. When someone has one of these assault weapons, within a matter
of seconds, he can shoot off multiple rounds and kill multiple numbers
of people. Even if you have those who come to the rescue--if law
enforcement is on the scene or people are able to deal with the
circumstances--in a matter of seconds, you can already have multiple
casualties. We need to get rid of these military-style weapons in
private ownership.
When you talk to law enforcement officers and ask them what they fear
the most when they go into a situation in which someone is armed, it is
the assault weapons they fear. It is not fair to our law enforcement
officers, who put their lives on the line for us and who rush into
harm's way, to allow for these types of weapons to be available to the
general public.
We can do something about it. Let us take up legislation that
restricts the private ownership of assault-style weapons. There has
been no action, though, on the floor of the Senate. The Republican
leader will not bring up any issues on gun safety.
I could add legislation with regard to the large-capacity magazines.
We see that. They are used in mass shootings because you can shoot off
multiple rounds without reloading. Again, as we have seen in mass
shooting circumstances, it has added to the number of deaths. It is not
inconveniencing the public to restrict that type of capacity from being
out there, which is known to cause harm by those who want to create a
situation of mass casualties. Again, there has been no action on the
floor of the Senate by the Republican leader.
We have bipartisan legislation that would identify those individuals
who pose extreme risks so that there is a red flag placed on those
individuals that prevents them from being able to purchase handguns--
bipartisan legislation. Our States are acting, but there has been no
action on the floor of the U.S. Senate. The Republican leader will not
even bring that up.
We could go over a whole host of other issues, such as mental health
and earlier identification--those types of services. There are a lot of
things we can do. I would hope that the one option that would be off
the table would be that of doing nothing, but that seems to be the
Republican leader's preferred option--to let this issue rest without
there being any action taken by the Senate. It has been over 200 days
since the House of Representatives acted, but there has been no action
here on the floor of the Senate.
I urge all of my colleagues to impress upon the Republican leader
that it is well past time for us to consider gun safety legislation.
Let us bring these bills to the floor. Let us not wait for the
President of the United States. We are the legislative branch of
government. Let us act and do the right thing to keep our communities
and our homes safer.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, let me join the Senator from Maryland in
expressing my frustration. Many of us worked long and hard to be
elected to the U.S. Senate, not just to represent our States but to
respond to the challenges that face us in the United States. The
challenge of gun safety faces everyone. Thank you to the Senator from
Maryland for making that point on the floor of the Senate.
Many people come to the Senate Galleries, sit in the chairs, and wait
for the Senate to act. It is a long waiting game because,
unfortunately, the Senate does little or nothing under the
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leadership of Senator McConnell. I don't know why this Senator has not
accepted the fact that the U.S. Senate has an important role to play.
We speak for people not only in Illinois and in Maryland but for those
all across the United States, and they are very concerned.
In the recent trip home over the recess, I visited some of the areas
around Chicago and in the city, and there were many conversations about
the gun violence that we see across America. That gun violence has been
punctuated by the horrible events in El Paso and Odessa, TX, and in
other communities that have been affected by these mass killings. We
have become numb, I am afraid, to the reality of gun violence in
America. We have decided, I am afraid, that the Second Amendment to the
Constitution is somehow holding us back--binding us and restraining
us--from even doing the most basic things.
Overwhelmingly, the people of America, by a factor of over 90
percent--Democrats and Republicans--believe that we should have
background checks. We believe that the people who have been convicted
of violent felonies shouldn't own guns--period. We believe, as well,
that when it comes to those who have serious mental instability, they
should also be precluded from gun ownership. The laws do not allow us
to adequately ask the question or to test whether the buyer has been
convicted of a felony or has such a background.
In the city of Chicago, hardly a weekend goes by without there being
dozens shot and 9 or 10 or more losing their lives. Most of them are
young people, but not exclusively. Older people, as well, are caught in
the crossfire.
People say: Well, I thought Chicago had these tough gun laws. What is
going on there? Why do you have so many gun deaths?
The answer is obvious for those of us who spend time in that great
city. We are about 20 minutes away from northwestern Indiana and from
the gun shows that are held there, where people don't ask questions
when they sell firearms. All you need to do is to have the money and
the open trunk of your car to fill it up with guns and drive them back
to the city of Chicago. That is why no State can solve this problem. We
need Federal legislation.
As I talk to people across this country, they tell me the
heartbreaking stories of sitting down with their children who have gone
through some drill or program at school to forewarn them of what would
happen if an active shooter were to come onto the premises. As we know,
that reality is not beyond reach. In Connecticut, we saw a beautiful
first grade class that was attacked by a killer with a weapon who took
the lives of those children. If that scandalous massacre of children in
a first grade classroom didn't move this Congress and this President to
act, what will?
The President said to me in a conversation several weeks ago that we
are going to have a background check bill and that it will be the best
in the history of the world. Well, I was skeptical when he said it. I
am even more skeptical today. I knew what would happen. When the
President had a choice between the public interest of gun safety and
the special interest of the National Rifle Association, the National
Rifle Association prevailed.
This President refuses to come forward with any proposal, and Senator
McConnell believes his hands are tied and cannot bring this issue to
the floor of the Senate. He cannot run the risk that his Members would
have to be on the record as having taken a vote, as they were elected
to do, on an issue of this importance.