[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23631]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         THE NATIONAL INSTANT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK SYSTEM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. McCarthy) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, last week in this House, we passed a gun 
liability bill, and we gave immunity to the gun manufacturers and gun 
dealers that have never seen the likes of before.
  With this passage of the bill and with the President being there to 
sign it, we are going to be counting on the NICS system more than ever 
to make sure that those that should not be able to buy guns should not 
be able to get them. It is going to put added responsibility onto the 
NICS system, and the NICS system is not ready.
  People know that a computer is only as good as the information that 
is given to it. I want the Members to look at this sign. In 25 States, 
40 percent of felons can buy guns, no questions asked, mainly because 
25 States have entered less than 60 percent of their felons into their 
computer systems.
  When we talk about trying to prevent gun violence in this country, I 
have offered numerous solutions that are common sense certainly to try 
to protect the American people; and yet this House, unfortunately, has 
not done anything to try to reduce gun violence in this country. In 13 
States, subjects of restraining orders can buy guns, no questions 
asked. Thirteen States do not list restraining orders, and yet 
certainly it is part of what we know that those that are under 
restraining orders are not supposed to be able to buy guns.
  This month we are also talking about domestic violence awareness; and 
yet we see constantly that we do not list those that have been served 
with restraining orders, that there is no protection at all.
  All States sell guns to those on terrorist watch lists. All States 
sell guns to those that are on a terrorist watch list.
  The majority of us here in Congress fly a couple of times a week. We 
go through the search. We take off our shoes. At one point some of us 
are actually on that watch list, and we are able to get off it when we 
find out when a mistake is made. And yet we do know that there are 
terrorists that are not allowed to fly on our planes; yet they can go 
into any one of our States and they can buy a gun. Where is the common 
sense in that? Terrorists cannot fly, but they can buy guns in any 
State in this country.
  H.R. 1415 is a bill that I introduced a couple of years ago. It 
actually passed here on the House floor by voice vote. Unfortunately, 
the Senate did not have enough time to pick it up. I think the time is 
really now to look at the NICS Improvement and Enforcement Act and it 
is time to pass it again.
  If we are going to give gun immunity to our gun dealers and to our 
gun manufacturers, we still should be doing something to make sure that 
the people of the United States have the best protection possible.
  This bill is actually good for gun dealers. It saves lives. It is 
time for common sense. It is time for us to try to change the way we 
talk about gun violence, the second amendment, here in this Chamber.
  I honestly do not know that many people that want to take away the 
right of someone to own a gun. What we are trying to do is put common 
sense into our gun laws to prevent people from dying, prevent 
accidents, and also try to save the taxpayers money.
  When we talk about spending over $200 billion, $200 billion, a year 
associated with gun violence, health care related to gun violence in 
this country, I think that is quite a bit of money. When we are talking 
about sometime this week possibly having a budget reconciliation, and I 
am going to be in the Committee on Education and the Workforce tomorrow 
and I understand that we are going to be cutting anywhere from $3 
billion to $4 billion on top of the $13 billion we have already cut out 
of higher education, I think $200 billion a year could help us. But the 
House still does not have the will.
  I am hoping that people will listen. I am hoping that people will 
understand that this is common sense; that if we do the background 
checks, we can certainly prevent an awful lot of people from buying the 
guns who should not be buying the guns. Maybe we could save some lives. 
Maybe we could have education for the parents that buy the guns, that 
they should be buying child safety locks to make sure that their 
children do not get ahold of a gun. There are so many common-sense 
things that we can do.
  I hope now that the House has passed their major legislation on 
blocking any kind of tort reform or passing tort reform for the gun 
industry and the NRA has got their number one issue done for the year, 
that we can start talking about how we are going to save lives, how we 
are going to prevent injuries, how we are going to save money in the 
health care system because of needless killings and accidental deaths 
and suicides. These are things that affect so many families in 
different parts of our country on a daily basis. I will be talking 
about this over the next several months. I am determined to get this 
passed. I hope my colleagues will be there with me.

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