[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 98 (Tuesday, June 6, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1965-S1966]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Gun Violence

  Mr. President, it was 10 years ago, roughly, when the inauguration of 
Barack Obama took place. It meant a lot to me. He was my colleague in 
the Senate for a number of years. He was my friend. I endorsed him for 
President. I was the first Senator to endorse him, and, for 14 months, 
I was the only Senator who endorsed him.
  I traveled to Iowa many times to campaign for him as President. And, 
of course, I remember that glorious, cold, cold day when he took the 
oath of office out here on the steps of the Capitol. It was cold, but 
there were huge crowds. I will never forget it. I was lucky enough, 
being in the Senate and a friend of his, to be on the platform when he 
took the oath of office. And when my friend Barack Obama reached his 
hand over and put it on the Bible of Abraham Lincoln to take his oath 
of office, I was witnessing, along with America, a moment in history I 
had never dreamed of.
  It meant a lot to many other people too. There was a class from a 
school in Chicago that decided to send out their students and their 
band to march and to honor the new President. They were as proud of him 
as I was, maybe more so. It was an African-American school class, and 
it included in its rank a young lady named Hadiya Pendleton.
  After she witnessed that swearing-in, she went back to Chicago. 
Sadly, 2 weeks later, she was senselessly shot down and killed on the 
South Side. She was 15 years old. President Obama's wife Michelle Obama 
came to her funeral in Chicago to honor this wonderful little girl--
young girl--who came to that capital to be part of history and only 
lived a few weeks afterwards.
  Friday would have been Hadiya Pendleton's 26th birthday. I joined 
community members in Chicago at a violence prevention center called 
BUILD. The people I spoke to were united not only in wearing orange to 
signify their unity but in sharing the belief that we have to do more 
to protect our communities from gun violence.

[[Page S1966]]

  In the more than 10 years since Hadiya was killed, America's crisis 
of gun violence has gotten progressively worse. Today, gunfire is the 
No. 1 killer of America's children. Think about that for a second--gun 
violence, the No. 1 killer of America's children today, of all the 
things they face in life.
  One in five Americans now say they have lost a loved one to gun 
violence--one in five. Many Americans say they live in fear of sending 
their kids to school or the local grocery store or church, that they 
will become targets of the next mass shooting.
  Last weekend, sadly, at least 46 people were shot in the city of 
Chicago during the weekend. Ten died. This includes a horrific mass 
shooting in the Austin neighborhood, where seven people were shot and 
one died just blocks away from where the new mayor lives.
  Some politicians claim, well, that is part of American life; we have 
to accept it. I think they are wrong, and nearly 90 percent of 
Americans who support new gun safety laws agree it is time for Congress 
to do something. That is why it is unbelievable to me, having served in 
this body for a number of years, that this week the Senate Republicans 
want to take us backwards and weaken an existing gun law, one that has 
been on the books since 1934, almost 90 years: the National Firearms 
Act.
  Congress passed this law almost 90 years ago to set strict rules 
around particularly dangerous firearms like machine guns, sawed-off 
shotguns, and short-barreled rifles, but right now, the Republican 
effort on the floor wants to wipe away a regulation from the Bureau of 
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives which restricts devices that 
can convert pistols into short-barreled rifles.
  The device is known as a stabilizing brace. When you attach one to a 
pistol, you can hold the weapon against your shoulder to fire it. It is 
accurate like a rifle but easily concealed, more like a handgun. That 
is exactly why, for almost 90 years, short-barreled rifles have been 
regulated in the United States. This kind of weapon is still being 
used. It was used by the mass shooter who killed 9 people and injured 
17 others in Dayton, OH, in 2019 and by another mass shooter in 
Boulder, CO, in 2021 who killed 10 people.
  Now, ask yourself, is this what America needs in the year 2023: 
weakening gun laws that have been on the books since Franklin Roosevelt 
was President, making it easier to conceal short-barreled rifles in 
your handbag or backpack? Absolutely not. But this Republican proposal, 
at this moment of gun violence and bloodshed in America, would make it 
easier for mass shooters and criminals to access these dangerous 
weapons.
  Under the ATF rule, gun owners have a number of ways to comply. They 
can take the brace off their pistol or put a longer barrel on it, but 
they cannot have a short-barreled rifle without being subject to 
regulations from that 1934 National Firearms Act, which included 
registration and limits on transfers.
  The ATF's regulation on pistol braces is just common sense. More 
importantly, it will save lives. The only question is, Why are the 
Republicans bringing this up at this moment in our history? Why? Is it 
for the gun lobby or for the American people?