[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 200 (Tuesday, December 5, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S5720]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Assault Weapons

  Mr. President, now, on the assault weapons ban UC, tomorrow, I will 
come to the Senate floor with my Democratic colleagues to ask unanimous 
consent to pass the assault weapons ban.
  If Republicans do not object to our unanimous consent request to pass 
the ban, the Senate can then pass a tried-and-true measure to reduce 
mass shootings and gun deaths in America.
  When I led the fight for the assault weapons ban in 1994 in the 
House--along with our late colleague, Senator Feinstein, who led the 
charge in the Senate--it passed with bipartisan support because both 
sides recognized the need to rid our streets of these weapons of war.
  After the ban went into effect, the numbers proved the obvious: 
Banning deadly assault weapons saves lives, plain and simple. The 
number of deaths from mass shootings and gun incidents both fell after 
the ban took effect.
  Today, a decade after the expiration of the assault weapons ban, gun 
violence is running rampant in America. Families can no longer enjoy a 
night at the bowling alley or go out to dinner without fear of a gunman 
with an assault rifle. People can no longer stop by the bank in the 
morning or spend a Saturday at the shopping mall without that thought 
in their heads that maybe there is some gunman out there with an 
assault rifle.
  That is why Democrats will come to the floor tomorrow to try and pass 
the Assault Weapons Ban and other gun safety legislation. And I hope my 
Republican colleagues find the courage to stand with us, stand with the 
American people, and stand with families and kids who are sick and 
tired of living under the threat of gun violence.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.