[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 168 (Wednesday, October 23, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6094-S6095]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Ms. McSally, Ms. Ernst, Mr. Tillis, 
        Mrs. Capito, and Mr. Scott of South Carolina):
  S. 2690. A bill to reduce mass violence, strengthen mental health 
collaboration in communities, improve school safety, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, 2 months ago, Texans were mourning the 
loss of 22 of our people killed in a senseless attack in El Paso, TX. 
Little did we know that we were just days away from another violent 
attack, this time in Midland and Odessa, which took seven lives.
  Visiting these communities in the wake of these tragedies is tough--
something I have, unfortunately, had experience with following the 2017 
shooting in Sutherland Springs and, again, in 2018 in Santa Fe High 
School. There are no words to bring comfort to the families and the 
friends and the community members who were shaken to their very core by 
these sudden and unwarranted acts of violence.
  But as I visited with the families and offered my condolences 
following each of these attacks, there was one common refrain, one 
common request: Please do something. Now, if I knew of a way to 
introduce and pass legislation that could stop these types of criminal 
acts from occurring, I guarantee we could pass it with 100 percent of 
the Senate and 435 Members of the House, and the President would sign 
it. But that, unfortunately, is not the human condition. Unfortunately, 
there is no quick fix, no simple answer. Instead, we are left to look 
at the factors that led to these attacks and to try to do something to 
prevent the sequence of events from playing out again in the future.
  Following the shooting in Sutherland Springs, we quickly learned some 
disturbing facts about the shooter and how he obtained his weapons. He 
had a history of violence and a criminal conviction that should have 
prevented him from ever purchasing a firearm. But this information was 
never uploaded into the background check system run by the FBI. As a 
result, the shooter was able to purchase four firearms, three of which 
were used in the attack. He shouldn't have been able to do that.
  Every time something like this happens, it is only natural to say: 
What if? What if those convictions had been uploaded? What if he wasn't 
able to purchase those firearms? Could we have stopped this terrible 
loss of life?
  My goal then, as it is now, is to do everything I can to make sure 
those questions don't have to be asked again.
  Ten days after the Sutherland Springs shooting, I introduced a piece 
of legislation called Fix NICS--Fix the National Instant Criminal 
Background Check System--to fill the gaps in our background check 
system and ensure that government agencies submit relevant evidence. We 
worked hard on it over a long period of time, and it passed with more 
than 70 Senate bipartisan cosponsors.
  What is the result of the Fix NICS bill we passed in the wake of 
Sutherland Springs? We now know that the Federal Government has 
increased its record submissions to the background check system by 400 
percent--a 400-percent increase in the background check system. That 
means if somebody is dishonorably discharged from the military, if 
somebody has been convicted of domestic violence, violated a protective 
order, or convicted of any felony, the background check system is much 
more likely to have that derogatory information in it, and the seller 
will not sell that firearm. Because of this legislation, our Federal 
background databases are becoming stronger and better by the day and 
preventing more criminals from getting their hands on deadly weapons 
that are already prohibited by existing law.
  But it is time once again to revisit the way we might reduce the loss 
of life, the way we might be able to reduce these mass violence 
episodes from occurring in our country in the future. Today, I am 
introducing the Restoring, Enhancing, Strengthening, and Promoting Our 
Nation's Safety Efforts--or the RESPONSE Act, as we call it. Just as 
Fix NICS did, this bill addresses specific problems to try to prevent 
attacks and make our communities safer.
  First, this legislation takes aim at unlicensed firearms dealers who 
are breaking the existing law. Shortly after the Midland-Odessa 
shooting, we learned that the shooter failed a background check when he 
attempted to

[[Page S6095]]

buy a gun from a licensed dealer. He then managed to circumvent the 
process by purchasing his weapon from somebody who appears to have been 
in the business of manufacturing and selling guns but who is not a 
registered firearms dealer. By not registering as a dealer, the seller 
was able to skirt the legal requirement and sell a weapon to the 
shooter without conducting the necessary background check.
  So to prevent unlicensed dealers from continuing to break the law, 
the RESPONSE Act creates a nationwide task force to investigate and 
prosecute those individuals. The task force will focus on those who are 
illegally selling firearms, as well as those attempting to buy firearms 
who provide false statements as part of the background check.
  While preventing unlicensed dealers from selling weapons without 
appropriate background checks is an important way to reduce violence, 
it is only one factor. I think we have to admit there isn't one single 
solution. It is multifactorial. There are multiple things we can and 
should do.
  The second major piece of this legislation improves the quality and 
availability of mental health care. I asked the Odessa police chief 
following the shooting in Midland-Odessa: What is it you think we might 
have been able to do? He said: Well, we need better access to mental 
health diagnoses and treatment.
  We clearly need to do more to identify and support struggling 
individuals who could pose a danger to themselves and to others. We 
know for a fact that the majority of gun deaths are suicides, self-
inflicted. While mental illness is not the prevailing cause of mass 
violence, enhanced mental health resources, I believe, are critical to 
saving lives. The RESPONSE Act includes a range of measures, such as 
expanding mental health crisis intervention teams, improving 
coordination between mental health providers and law enforcement, and 
bolstering the mental health workforce.
  Importantly, this bill expands something called assisted outpatient 
treatment programs, or AOTs. This is something we passed as part of the 
21st Century Cures Act, my Mental Health and Safe Communities Act to 
help focus on, as a priority, pilot projects of these assisted 
outpatient treatment programs. Here we seek to expand them further 
based on the proven success. AOTs, or assisted outpatient treatment, 
provide families of individuals with mental illness an opportunity to 
get treatment for their loved one in their community rather than in an 
institution. Making mental health resources more accessible will serve 
our most vulnerable friends and neighbors in countless ways and, I 
believe, make our communities safer.
  Third, the RESPONSE Act seeks to increase the safety of our students. 
I have heard from countless parents--no doubt, the Presiding Officer 
has too--that parents literally are in fear of sending their children 
to school, not knowing whether they may be victimized by one of these 
senseless attacks, especially in the aftermath of Santa Fe and Parkland 
High School. Parents are rightfully concerned about sending their kids 
to school, and they should not have to live with that.
  The RESPONSE Act includes provisions to help identify students whose 
behavior indicates a threat of violence and then provide the student 
with the appropriate services they may need not to be a danger to 
themselves or others. By promoting best practices within our schools, 
as well as internet safety policies, we can help protect both students 
and school faculty and provide parents with a little peace of mind.
  Finally, because so often these shooters advertise on social media or 
cry out for attention to law enforcement or other people ahead of time, 
this legislation includes provisions to ensure law enforcement can 
receive timely information about potential threats made online. Online 
providers and platforms have the ability to share information with law 
enforcement today during emergencies. And in the fight against child 
abuse, the RESPONSE Act would expand the scope of information they can 
share to include information about potential acts of mass violence or 
self-harm or hate crimes or acts of domestic terrorism.
  The RESPONSE Act has been endorsed already by a number of law 
enforcement and mental health organizations, including the National 
Council for Behavioral Health, National Alliance on Mental Illness, the 
National District Attorneys Association, Fraternal Order of Police, and 
a number of others.
  I am glad to say it also has received support already--even though we 
are only introducing it today--from a number of our colleagues here: 
Senators McSally, Tillis, Ernst, Capito, and Senator Tim Scott. I hope 
we can work together to build a big bipartisan list of cosponsors as 
other Senators have the opportunity to review this legislation--again, 
using the Fix NICS bill as a model of how we can build consensus and 
get something done that will save lives.
  There is no quick fix, as I said, but there are commonsense measures 
we can take to reduce mass violence and protect the American people. As 
Texans continue to grieve in the aftermath of these attacks, I am 
committed to upholding my promise that I made to their families and 
friends to do something--to do what we can to prevent more communities 
from facing this sort of heartbreak.

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