[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 92 (Thursday, May 26, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S2732]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                    ROBB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SHOOTING

  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, another mass shooting, another 
elementary school; 19 children, ages 7 through 10, gunned down; two 
adults killed. They were in our schools--an elementary school, a place 
that parents send their children expecting it to be a safe zone where 
they can learn and interact with other children and be safe from things 
like being attacked and shot. An elementary school we are talking 
about, the anguish of the families who have lost their children or lost 
their loved ones.
  Children who witnessed this will be traumatized for life, scarred by 
what happened in Texas.
  And then last week, we saw in Buffalo 10 people gunned down while 
shopping in a grocery store, very much racially motivated by a White 
supremacist. This is happening throughout our country.
  We have had gun violence in Baltimore. A few years ago, we had gun 
violence at Great Mills High School in Maryland. We are seeing this 
happen over and over and over again.


 =========================== NOTE =========================== 

  
  On page S2732, May 26, 2022, first column, the following 
appears: A few years ago, we had gun violence at Great Oaks School 
in Maryland.
  
  The online Record has been corrected to read: A few years ago, 
we had gun violence at Great Mills High School in Maryland.


 ========================= END NOTE ========================= 


  I and all Marylanders and Americans are sad. We are angry; we are 
fearful; and we are frustrated. Yes, we have to deal with the mental 
health issues here; there is no question about that in my mind. Let me 
just point out for my colleagues that I join with Senator Wyden and 
Senator Crapo and Senator Thune in releasing the draft on the 
telehealth recommendations as part of the mental health work that is 
being done by the Senate Finance Committee. Our Presiding Officer has 
been one of the leaders on this issue. We recognize we have to do more 
for mental health.
  Our draft discussion documents are dealing with telehealth. We really 
learned during COVID-19 how valuable telehealth is for access to care. 
Individuals who could not get to their healthcare providers were able 
to do that through telehealth services. We also recognize how valuable 
telehealth services are in regard to mental health and behavioral 
health. It was gaining access that could have been denied before. This 
is all-important that we move forward on these recommendations. And we 
are looking at ways that we remove obstacles in the way for people in 
our community to be able to get telehealth services, removing some of 
the restrictions of the law prior to COVID-19 to make it easier not 
only for public insurance programs but private insurance programs to 
provide for telehealth.
  By the way, as you know, we have other task forces that are working 
in regard to children's mental health needs. All of that is important. 
We need to move forward on extending the resources and access to mental 
health services so we can identify people in need, give them the 
services they need, and protect our communities.
  But we need to do much more than mental health services in regard to 
protecting Americans from gun violence. Let me quote from the Baltimore 
Sun's editorial this morning. It is titled ``Real Insanity Is Doing 
Nothing About Assault Weapons Again.''

       The terrible tragedy raises all kinds of questions from the 
     mental health of the killer, the inadequacy of community-
     based psychiatric care and the bullying by classmates that 
     might have contributed to his instability to the failure of 
     those around him to recognize this potential threat. But one 
     element stands out above so many others: easy access to 
     assault weapons.

  This editorial was clearly done, I should have mentioned, with the 
Texas tragedy that occurred this week.
  The United States is an outlier among the nations of the world. We 
stand alone on the number of guns we have per capita and amount of gun 
violence. That is not a category that we want to lead the world in, and 
we do. We have to take action. In 2021 alone, 45,000 Americans lost 
their life through gun violence. Of that number, over 20,000 were 
killed as a result of murder or homicide--20,000. Over 300 children 
lost their lives through gun violence in 2021.
  As the Washington Post editorial noted in yesterday's editorial, the 
elementary school shooting in Texas was ``one of at least 24 acts of 
gun violence of K-12 campuses so far this year in which at least 28 
people have been killed . . . [this] came a day after a FBI report 
showing a sharp increase last year in active-shooter attacks 
nationwide. In 2020, for the first time, firearms became the leading 
cause of death for American children and teenagers, supplanting car 
accidents.''
  We lost our way. We need to do much more. How many children have to 
die before we act? When is enough enough? Congress needs to take up and 
pass commonsense gun safety legislation.
  I am going to give a few examples of legislation I hope we can take 
up and consider. First, the Assault Weapons Ban Act. Ban the sale. We 
have legislation, S. 736, that bans the sale, manufacture, transfer, 
and importation of assault weapons, including military-style weapons.
  The Baltimore Sun also talked about this. This is the Sunday paper's 
editorial:

       These are not components one needs in self-defense, not the 
     essentials required for target practice [or] local shooting 
     range, not an asset [that] the average deer hunter [needs]. 
     They are, however, the common tools of mass shooters. It's 
     been estimated that about one-quarter of such incidents have 
     involved individuals armed with assault weapons.

  The public does not need assault weapons for self-defense. They don't 
need it for recreational use. They don't need it. These are military-
style weapons and should have no place in private ownership. We should 
take action in order to make our communities safer and our children 
safer. We should pass the Bipartisan Background Check Expansion Act, 
which would require checks for all gun sales, including those from 
unlicensed sellers. By the way, the House has already passed this 
action.
  And we should pass the Enhanced Background Check Completion Act. That 
is an act that would eliminate the so-called Charleston loophole that 
allows for gun sales to go forward if a check is not completed within 3 
days, which is an unrealistic requirement that we have.
  These are just commonsense gun safety bills that could be passed. We 
should pass the Keep Americans Safe Act, S. 1108, which would prohibit 
importation, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of magazines 
that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. Why does anyone, for a 
lawful purpose, need an ammunition magazine that holds more than 10 
rounds? The mass killers use it. We shouldn't make it easier for them 
to carry out these atrocities.
  Let me just mention the one option that should not be on the table, 
and that option is to do nothing. How many children have to die before 
enough is enough? Doing nothing about the epidemic of guns across this 
country is killing our children. We must work together to translate our 
grief into collective action. Enough is enough. Let us act.
  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. SULLIVAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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