[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 91 (Wednesday, May 25, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2675-S2677]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN VIOLENCE

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, there is a plague--a plague--upon this 
Nation, a plague of gun violence that has taken over this country. Two 
weeks ago, that plague claimed the lives of 10 Black Americans who were 
massacred in broad daylight while shopping at a grocery store in 
Buffalo. They were Black, and they were in a grocery store. That is the 
reason they were shot by an 18-year-old with an AR-15.
  And then, yesterday, just 10 days after Buffalo, that plague struck 
again in Uvalde, TX, where 19--19--innocent children and 2 teachers 
were gunned down at Robb Elementary in the middle of the school day, 
just before the start of summer when these kids were looking forward to 
having such a wonderful time with their family and friends.
  Gone. They are gone.
  The shooter crashed his truck near the school, overpowered the police 
already at the scene, and reportedly began shooting inside a fourth 
grade classroom. Nineteen kids, two teachers, forever gone in the blink 
of an eye.
  America's gun epidemic is unmatched by any of our peer nations in the 
world. No American is safe from it, and the American people are sick 
and tired of it. But we also have a problem--a big problem--here in the 
U.S. Senate--a big problem in the U.S. Senate. The problem in the 
Senate is simple: Too many Members on the other side of the aisle are 
disconnected from the suffering of the American people. Too many 
Members on that side care more about the NRA than they do about 
families who grieve victims of gun violence.

  As I said, the American people are sick and tired of mass shootings. 
They are sick and tired about active shooter alerts. They are sick and 
tired of children--children: 9-year-olds, 10-year-

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olds, 11-year-olds--being shot, gunned down in their schools.
  When I read the news of yesterday's shooting, I ached for the 
families and then thought: What if it was one of my children? I 
imagined what I would feel if this happened to one of them. The mere 
thought--just thinking about it--was a gut punch in my stomach. The 
fear sent ripples down my spine.
  To my Republican colleagues: Imagine if it happened to you. Imagine 
if this was your kid or your grandkid. How would you feel? Could you 
ever forgive yourself for not supporting a simple law that would make 
these mass shootings less likely?
  Please, please, please--damn it--put yourself in the shoes of these 
parents for once. Maybe that thought, putting yourself in the shoes of 
these parents instead of in the arms of the NRA, might let you wriggle 
free from the viselike grip of the NRA, might free you to act on even a 
simple measure for the sake of these children--these 9-year-olds, these 
10-year-olds, these 11-year-olds, these beautiful children. Please--
damn it--think if it were your child or grandchild.
  Now, Madam President, it wasn't always this way in Congress. Nearly 
30 years ago, I was proud to be the author of the Brady Bill and a 
leader of the assault weapons bans. These were major legislative 
accomplishments, and they worked because they were good, commonsense 
laws, and they passed because both sides of the aisle worked together. 
And because they became law, tens of thousands--hundreds of thousands, 
perhaps--of lives were saved: children, elderly people, people of 
color, you name it, people now walking the streets who might have been 
dead had we not passed these laws. But today the NRA has made it all 
but impossible for even the bare minimum to move forward in Congress, 
and the other side is all too ready to bow in obeisance to the NRA, in 
service of their whims.
  Madam President, these types of shootings used to be rare--so rare, 
in fact, that each occurrence stood apart as a singular event. But now 
these shootings happen so frequently that the Nation can barely keep 
up, barely mourn the 10 people shot in the grocery store in Buffalo 
before being rocked to our collective core by the slaughter of 19 
elementary schoolchildren in the predominantly Latino community of 
Uvalde, TX.
  These shootings happen everywhere: movie theaters, churches, 
synagogues, concerts, nightclubs, grocery stores, college campuses, 
high schools, elementary schools--elementary schools, with beautiful 
children getting ready to move out into the prime of life.
  Honestly, I thought Sandy Hook 10 years ago would be the breaking 
point. I thought that that would be the tragedy that forced Republicans 
to examine their conscience and think: Oh, God, we can't allow 
schoolchildren to be slaughtered.
  Well, I was wrong. The slaughter of 20 elementary schoolchildren in 
Sandy Hook didn't move them. We heard about their thoughts and their 
prayers--but no action. Then came Aurora. And the Navy Yard. Then, 
after Charleston, I thought: Maybe this--maybe this is the moment. Nine 
Americans shot in a church during Bible study? This has to move the 
Republicans here in the Senate.
  Nope. It didn't. They gave a few more thoughts, a few more prayers, 
no real effort to solve the problem.
  So, Madam President, it continued on and on and on: San Bernardino; 
Orlando; Las Vegas; Sutherland Springs; Marjory Stoneman Douglas High 
School; Thousand Oaks; the Pittsburgh synagogue; Santa Fe, TX; the El 
Paso Walmart; Dayton; Virginia Beach; Boulder; Buffalo; and now Uvalde.
  When will it end? We must act to have it end, not thoughts and 
prayers--action.
  After the shootings in El Paso and Dayton 3 years ago, the Republican 
leader promised that red flag laws and background checks would be front 
and center in a Senate debate. He was then majority leader, but then 
the Republicans did nothing. They ensured there was no debate, just as 
they wanted. They don't want to debate this issue. Indeed, all we hear 
from Republicans are thoughts, prayers. And now there is a new phrase. 
Now some of my Republican colleagues want to ``lift up'' the community. 
That sounds heartening, but it does absolutely nothing--nothing--to 
prevent the next family from having to grieve their loss, and it won't 
do a single damn thing to prevent another life from being taken. It 
won't do a single damn thing to prevent another child from being shot 
at school--a 9-year-old, a 10-year-old, an 11-year-old--beautiful 
children.

  Madam President, you may have noticed that when they aren't offering 
thoughts and prayers to distract from their inaction, many of my 
Republican colleagues focus on the motives of the shooters instead of 
focusing on the obvious common denominator. They talk about the real 
villain being mental illness and say nothing of the fact that we are a 
nation suffocated by firearms. Rates of mental illness are more or less 
the same across the developed world. The United States is not an 
outlier on mental illness, but we are an outlier in the sheer number of 
guns available in this country. That is why we have so many shootings 
and other Western countries don't. If mental illness were the simple 
cause, you would see mass shootings happening all over the developed 
world, but you don't.
  What you do see here in America are enough guns to give every man, 
woman, and child in this Nation a firearm and still have nearly 70 
million guns left over. What you do see is that it is far too easy for 
people to access weapons in this country and then to use them to 
slaughter people, to slaughter children by the dozens--by the dozens.
  Again, America doesn't stand out when it comes to the rate of mental 
illness, but we are unique among the world's developed nations in that 
today, the leading cause of death among children is no longer a car 
accident; it is no longer illness or malnourishment. The leading cause 
of death among children is a firearm. The leading cause of death of 
children--do you hear that, my Republican colleagues?--is a firearm.
  Clearly, many of these shooters had different motives, but at the end 
of the day, does the motive really matter to the family with an empty 
seat at their dinner table? Children who lost parents don't just care 
whether the shooter was mentally ill; they care that the shooter had 
ready access to a gun. Spouses who lost their partners don't just care 
that the shooter had a grudge or an agenda or a grievance; they care 
that the shooter had ready access to a gun. Americans who lost friends 
and coworkers and parishioners, who lost fellow worshippers don't just 
care whether the shooter wrote a manifesto; they care that the shooter 
had ready access to a gun. They care that their loved ones had been 
taken from them by someone who had access to a gun--taken from them 
while some Members of this body refuse to do what it takes to prevent 
those losses, refuse to focus on the denominator to every single one of 
these shootings, refuse to even do the bare minimum as they bow in 
obeisance to the wretched NRA.
  What do we do about it? If the slaughter of schoolchildren can't 
convince the Republicans to buck the NRA, what can we do? There are 
some who want this body to quickly vote on sensible gun safety 
legislation--legislation supported by the vast majority of Americans, 
Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike. They want to see this 
body vote quickly so the American people can know which side each 
Senator is on--which side each Senator is on.
  I am sympathetic to that, and I believe that accountability votes are 
important. But, sadly, this isn't a case of the American people not 
knowing where their Senators stand. They know. They know because my 
Republican colleagues are perfectly clear on this issue, crystal clear. 
Republicans don't pretend that they support sensible gun safety 
legislation. They don't pretend to be moved by the fact that 90 percent 
of Americans, regardless of party, support something as common sense as 
background checks, that the vast majority of gun owners support the 
background checks bill. They don't pretend that they want to keep guns 
out of the hands of those who might use weapons to shoot concertgoers 
or movie watchers or worshippers or shoppers or children. They don't 
pretend at all.
  Just listen to them when they show up in obeisance to the NRA at the 
NRA's convention in Houston--the same State as Uvalde--on Friday. They

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will offer their thoughts and prayers. They will say they want to lift 
up the community. And then they will go back to their smoke-filled 
rooms and ensure the NRA and gun manufacturers that nothing will 
change, that they have the NRA's back.
  No, Madam President, no, this isn't a case of Republicans hiding 
their position. They proudly tell the American people which side they 
are on, and America is much worse off for it. And if nothing does 
change, we are condemned to find ourselves right here once again very, 
very soon.
  As I was reading the reports of the tragedy in Texas, I saw that 
Amanda Gorman, the young woman who mesmerized the Nation at President 
Biden's inauguration, tweeted:

       The truth is, one nation under guns.

  ``One nation under guns.'' That is simply heartbreaking--
heartbreaking--to think that this is the legacy that older generations 
are leaving behind for young Americans: ``one nation under guns.''
  It doesn't have to be that way. Our parents don't need to drop their 
kids off at school and wonder if their kid will be next. That is in the 
thoughts of millions of moms and dads right now. Our citizens don't 
have to endure the fear of getting groceries while constantly keeping 
an eye behind their backs. Again, millions of Americans are worried 
about that right now.
  Americans can make a choice. Americans can reject the Republican 
``guns at all cost'' doctrine, obeisance to the NRA, not even voting 
for the most simple, sensitive, positive, and popular gun legislation. 
Americans can cast their vote in November for Senators or Members of 
Congress who reflect how he or she stands with guns, with this issue--
this issue--at the top of the voters' lists.

  In the meantime, my Republican colleagues can work with us now. I 
know this is a slim prospect--very slim, all too slim. We have been 
burned so many times before. But this is so important, and I have such 
a firm belief--taught to me by my late father, who passed away in 
November--that if you do the right thing and persist, justice will 
eventually prevail. But you have to keep persisting, and we will.
  For that reason alone, we must pursue action and even ask Republicans 
again to join us--maybe, maybe, maybe. Unlikely. We have been burned in 
the past. But their hearts might see what is happening and join us and 
do the right thing. They know it is the right thing. They can work with 
us to craft legislation that would prevent needless loss of life. It is 
their choice.
  As majority leader, I haven't been shy about putting bipartisan 
legislation on the floor for a vote, but bipartisan means both parties 
must engage in crafting a bill, like what happened in the House and 
Senate 30 years ago with the Brady law and the assault weapons ban.
  Democrats have been trying to work hard with Republicans--Senator 
Murphy, Senator Manchin--on legislation that will eventually pass and 
become law. The other side has refused. There are so many options 
available to us, so many ideas. We just need some brave Republicans to 
stand before history and yell ``stop,'' to think, if it was your child, 
your grandchild, how you would feel. Would that move you to do 
something--something--about this plague of guns?
  Like my colleague Senator Murphy, I refuse to believe that we cannot 
find a path forward. Make no mistake about it, if we can't find a good, 
strong bill that has bipartisan support, we will continue to pursue 
this issue on our own. We have no choice. It is too important. Lives 
are at stake.
  I accept the fact that most of my Republican colleagues are not 
willing to do what it takes to prevent this needless loss of life. The 
NRA will have a hold on them. That is just a reality, unfortunately. 
But it is unacceptable to the American people to think that there are 
not 10 of my Republican colleagues, just 10--1 out of 5 over here--who 
would be ready to work to pass something that would reduce this plague 
of gun violence.
  It is unacceptable that there are not 10 Members of the Republican 
caucus willing to save lives, find a way to do it. Yet that is where we 
are. That is where we are. Another week, another American community 
devastated by a mass shooting. All of us thinking of these 9- and 10- 
and 11-year-old children just shot, gone. Another American community, 
Uvalde, which will never recover, like the other communities before it. 
Will it be yet--Uvalde--another example of Republicans unwilling to do 
what it takes to keep Americans safe?
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

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