[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 8, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S2857]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Gun Violence

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, yesterday, as chairman of the Senate 
Judiciary Committee, I had the honor of welcoming a group of important 
guests to Washington.
  The committee was joined by the families of some of the victims in 
last month's mass shooting in Buffalo, NY, when a White supremacist 
marched into the Tops Grocery store with an assault rifle and massacred 
10 Black Americans in cold blood and wounded three others. Just weeks 
after laying their loved ones to rest, these families flew to 
Washington to deliver one very simple, straightforward message to 
Congress: Do something. Do something to prevent the next mass shooting, 
to combat the lethal threat posed by violent White supremacists, to 
honor the memory of those who were slain in this horrifying act of 
racist violence.
  One of the family members who attended yesterday was Garnell 
Whitfield, Jr., and his brother Raymond. Their mother Ruth Whitfield 
was the eldest victim in this Buffalo shooting. She was 86 years old.
  In the hours before her murder, Mrs. Whitfield just finished her 
regular daily ritual, visiting her husband, Mr. Whitfield's father, at 
his nursing home. The two had been married for 68 years, and in an 
instant, she was gone. Her family is shattered.
  During yesterday's hearing, Mr. Whitfield courageously voiced what 
millions of Americans feel about the devastating run of mass shootings 
in America: outrage. He asked me and the fellow committee members there 
a really important question:

       What are you doing? You were elected to protect us. Is 
     there nothing that you [can] personally [be] willing to do to 
     stop the cancer of White supremacy and the domestic terrorism 
     it inspires?

  Mr. Whitfield concluded his testimony with the following words I hope 
every Member of the Senate will hear. He said:

       Mrs. Ruth Whitfield's life mattered. Your actions here will 
     tell us if and how much it mattered to you.

  We heard the same sentiment from across the country--from Uvalde, TX, 
to Chicago, IL. It is impossible to keep track of these mass shootings. 
They have claimed so many innocent lives.
  During this past weekend alone, our Nation was hit with at least 10 
of them--10. Think about it: In this country, 10 in one weekend. In 
many countries--most countries around the world--there are none. No 
other developed Nation on Earth experiences this degree of bloody 
carnage every day, every week. And if we want to prove to Americans 
like Garnell Whitfield that the lives of their loved ones who were lost 
really do matter to us, we have to do something in the Senate.
  The first thing is simple: close the loopholes on the purchase of 
guns. Currently, there is a bipartisan group of Senators working on 
this issue. I commend this group, especially Senators Murphy and 
Cornyn--Democrat and Republican--who are leading this effort.
  We are also going to hold a hearing next week in the Judiciary 
Committee over a phenomena which is equally embarrassing. Gunfire is 
now the leading cause of death for kids in America. Did you hear that? 
Gunfire, the leading cause of death of children in America.
  We talk about protecting our kids, our highest priority. Well, the 
guns are killing our kids more than automobiles, more than poison, more 
than accidents in the home.