[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 8, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2841-S2842]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
GUN VIOLENCE
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, it is hard really to know where to start. I
am here on the Senate floor to talk about guns. In a world in chaos, we
cannot forget about the chaos right here at home. Gun violence is
killing our children: 19 students and two of their teachers in Uvalde 2
weeks ago; 20 children, and 7 others, in Newtown, CT--nearly 10 years
ago; 12 students and a teacher at Columbine--23 years ago. In between?
Las Vegas, 58 dead; the Pulse nightclub, 49 dead; Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High School, 17 dead--all victims of gun violence. And this is
just a snapshot of the epidemic of gun violence in our country.
I look back at my 48 years here in the Senate and say, When will we
say enough? We hadn't yet finished honoring and celebrating the lives
of the 10 victims in Buffalo before news broke of the tragedy unfolding
in Uvalde--19 children, 2 teachers, massacred in their school, where
they learn and work, where they should be safe--safe to just be
children.
This weekend, at least a dozen people were killed and 60 more injured
in shooting incidents across the country. When is it enough?
After Sandy Hook, well over decade after Columbine shook the Nation,
the conscience of the country was stirred. Now, we said, now we must
look at our gun laws. Now, we must think about what simply makes sense
and what does not. The Judiciary Committee acted. I was proud to lead
that, but the Senate did not. There were bipartisan proposals--
proposals that I believe can muster bipartisan support again today,
support that acknowledges that there is a problem and acknowledges that
we can and must do something about it. The problem is not the Second
Amendment. The problem is the view that the Second Amendment is itself
absolute.
I was in Vermont last week, and people would say to me, Of course, we
pray for the victims, but we also pray that Congress will finally stand
up and do something.
I am with my fellow Vermonters. I am a lifelong gun owner. I was on
the target shooting team at St. Michael's College in Vermont, my alma
mater--earned my letter in that. Millions of other Americans like
myself, lifelong gun owners, are responsible gun owners and honor
Americans' rights to own firearms and choose to own firearms to defend
their families, or to hunt--but not to commit battlefield-style
murders. To most Americans, firearms are valued for defensive purposes
and not for murder and mayhem.
There are ways that we can use our common sense to keep our
communities safe and keep guns out of the hands of people who are
dangerous. Let's start with background checks. They are a quick and
easy way to help accomplish that goal. There is bipartisan support to
require background checks for commercial firearms sales. Now, I think
we should go further, but we have to start somewhere, and commercial
sales background checks are a good start; background checks would help
to bring common sense back into this discussion.
How about extreme risk laws, also called ``red flag'' laws? We should
encourage more States to enact these laws to allow loved ones or law
enforcement agencies to petition a court for an order that would
temporarily prevent an individual in crisis from accessing firearms.
People who are in crisis and are a danger to themselves or others
should not have ready access to firearms. This, again, is practical
common sense.
We have seen where criminal gangs will send people into other States
to make straw purchases of weapons that are then sold back to them.
There is no criminal statute specifically prohibiting straw purchasing,
so prosecutors have to rely on laws that prohibit making false
statements in connection with the purchase of a firearm--a paperwork
[[Page S2842]]
offense. There is bipartisan agreement that we should strengthen the
penalties for straw purchasers to deter this dangerous conduct. This,
again, is practical common sense.
We should also add common sense and consistency to minimum age
requirements to purchase guns. You have to be 21 to buy a handgun. You
also have to be 21 to purchase alcohol or even cigarettes. But under
our Federal laws? Just 18 to buy a shotgun or rifle, including an
automatic rifle like those used on battlefields, like the ones used in
Buffalo and Uvalde. And if we cannot find enough common ground to ban
military-style assault rifles, we should at least raise the age at
which they can be purchased from 18 to 21.
All of these proposals are practical common sense; they should be the
least that Congress can do to help prevent the next mass shooting. But
we have a problem. We have a problem in the United States when the
leading cause of childhood death in 2020 was firearms. Think of that.
Our children and our grandchildren--and the leading cause of death is
firearms.
We have a problem when we cannot stand up--and together--to respond
to the fears of our children. We have a problem when we cannot push
aside the interests of the NRA and the gun industry or of the Gun
Owners of America or other pressure groups that tell us that Democrats
are ``coming for your guns.'' Of course, some of the gun industry will
say that because it boosts their sales. It boosts their sales, and
children die.
I am a Democrat. I am a gun owner. I have been both, nearly my entire
life. I have also been a prosecutor and prosecuted cases and went to
death scenes at 3 in the morning and seeing people shot. I am also
parent and a grandparent. I am a U.S. Senator. I am the Dean of the
Senate, and I am a proud Vermonter. In my home State, we have a long
tradition, dating back to our founding, of hunting the land. Ownership
of our firearms is part of that. I have also heard from more than 1,000
Vermonters since Uvalde, urgently telling me that something must be
done.
When is it enough? Everywhere Marcelle and I went last week in
Vermont, we heard, When is enough enough?
I have spent months--or actually years--listening to my friends on
the Republican side in Congress talk about protecting children. Who
will step up now and who will step in to say enough? If we are to
protect our children, we must be the adults with the courage to listen
to their fears and to act to alleviate them. We are the adults who must
protect our children. We must protect our children. If we do nothing,
we are not protecting them.
This isn't about politics. This isn't about the moneyed interests of
pressure groups, lobbying Congress without acknowledging the tragedies
in our world today. This isn't even about you or me, Mr. President.
This is about the thousands of people who are killed through gun
violence every year and the countless family members forced to
sorrowfully move on in their absence, saying, Why our family? Why our
loved one? Why my parents? Why my children? Why my brother? Or why my
sister? Why? In this, the greatest country on earth, our horrific
record of gun violence.
In no way is this about revoking the Second Amendment, but about
applying practical common sense safeguards to help mitigate the
violence.
Yet again, I ask, as I have since I have been in the Senate, and the
American people ask: When is it enough? When is it enough? I join those
who pray for the victims, but I especially join those who pray that
Congress will have the courage, Democrats and Republicans alike, to
finally do something meaningful.
I yield the floor.
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. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________