[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 24, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1723-S1724]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN VIOLENCE

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, a week ago the Nation reeled in horror as 
a deranged gunman shot and killed eight people at three different 
locations across the Atlanta area. Six of them were Asian-American 
women.
  Just 6 days later, another shooting. Ten people were shot and killed 
by a gunman who entered a grocery store in Boulder, CO. Some were 
customers, some were employees. One was as young as 20, and one was as 
old as 65.
  One of the victims was merely walking through the parking lot after 
fixing the coffee machines at the nearby Starbucks, the son of Serbian 
refugees and the shining hope of his family.
  One of the fallen was a local police officer, Eric Talley, an 11-year 
veteran of Boulder Police and a father of seven. You look at each of 
their faces--young, wise, older. You ache. Gone. You think of their 
families whom you don't know. They never will see them again, taken so 
cruelly and so quickly.
  Today, flags around the Capitol will remain at half-staff in honor of 
the victims, and we all grieve with their families. We also grieve with 
the community of Boulder and the people of Colorado. And we grieve with 
the people of Georgia and all people across the United States whose 
lives have been

[[Page S1724]]

forever marred by the plague of gun violence.
  COVID-19 is not the only epidemic claiming innocent lives in America. 
Last year alone, 20,000 Americans were killed by gun violence, the 
highest number in almost two decades. Most of these incidents never 
reached the headlines, but we cannot allow ourselves to become numb to 
their devastation. After one of the most difficult years in American 
history, we all want our lives and our country to return to normal. But 
not this normal--oh, no, not the normal that accepts everyday gun 
violence as a matter of course, an incidental risk to living in these 
United States of America. We cannot, we must not accept that as normal. 
We must not shrink from our moral obligation to act.
  Two years ago, the Republican leader, then in the majority, promised 
that this Chamber would have a real debate on gun violence in this 
country. It never happened. Even the former President made some noises 
about supporting commonsense gun safety measures before quickly 
retreating, the result, once again, of bitter, reflexive opposition by 
the NRA to any progress and fear among so many Republicans of what the 
NRA might do to them if they spoke truth to power.
  Well, now we don't have a Republican majority. We have a Democratic 
one. This time is going to be different. A Democratic majority in the 
Senate is going to act. I have committed to put legislation to expand 
background checks on the floor of the Senate. We will debate it. We 
will vote on it.
  Just yesterday, my colleague Senator Durbin led the Judiciary 
Committee in hearing from scores of witnesses about proposals to reduce 
gun violence that the Senate might take up.
  I have started the process to make legislation to combat hate crimes 
against Asian Americans, led by Senators Hirono and Representative Meng 
in the House, available for action on the floor.
  I have been told by so many Asians in New York that they are afraid 
just to walk down the street, something they used to do easily. I have 
seen the pain and fear in their faces as I have attended the rallies in 
New York.
  Make no mistake, under the Democratic majority the Senate will debate 
and address the epidemic of gun violence in this country

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