[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 20]
[House]
[Pages 27571-27572]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN VIOLENCE

  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, tomorrow is December 7. Many people 
remember it as Pearl Harbor Day. I remember it as the day that I lost 
my husband and my son was hurt. The members of our community will 
always remember the Long Island Massacre. It is at that point in my 
life that I decided to devote it to try to reduce gun violence in this 
country.
  On November 29, we lost Dillon Stewart to gun violence. Dillon 
Stewart was a New York City police officer and a constituent of mine. 
He was killed in the line of duty by a convicted criminal with a stolen 
gun that had been used in another crime earlier this year. This gun was 
stolen from Florida, a State with much weaker gun laws than New York. 
While Congress no longer allows the ATF to disclose data gathered when 
tracing weapons used in crimes, older data reveals most guns used in 
crimes in New York come from out of State dealers. I agree with my 
Republican mayor of New York when he says we need to pass tougher 
Federal gun laws.
  But while more and more police officers are killed by gun violence, 
Congress seems intent on making their jobs more difficult. For a 
variety of reasons, our Nation's police departments are understaffed 
and overworked. For example, New York City is losing 1,000 police 
officers per year. The State of Ohio has the same amount of State 
troopers that it did in 1970. Oregon has let go 20 percent of its State 
troopers. Part of the problem is that State and local government budget 
cuts have caused many departments to lay off police officers. And many 
police officers are also reservists in our armed services. Since 
September 11, 2001, over 4,000 police officers have been called to 
service in Iraq and Afghanistan. And to make matters worse, the COPS 
program that has helped put well over 100,000 police officers on the 
street is cut nearly every year.
  Our police officers are working longer hours with more 
responsibility, but what have we in Congress done? Congress has let the 
assault weapons ban expire, allowing street gangs and other criminals 
to legally buy cheaper and more lethal weapons. Congress has given the 
gun industry unprecedented immunity from liability lawsuits. Congress 
will not allow the Centers for Disease Control to reveal how much gun 
violence costs our health care system every single year. Congress will 
not even ban the sale of guns to individuals on terrorist watch lists. 
And we have done nothing to fix the hole in the national instant 
background check system that allows many convicted felons to buy guns 
with no questions asked. In half of our States, less than 60 percent of 
felons are entered into NICS databases. This has resulted in thousands 
of convicted felons being able to walk into a gun store and make a 
purchase. Many honest gun sellers may be selling guns to murderers, 
rapists or even terrorists with no way of knowing. The system put in 
place to protect us is failing and police officers are being forced to 
work even harder.
  I have introduced legislation, the NICS Improvement and Enforcement 
Act, to stop felons from buying guns. The NICS database is only as good 
as the information that the States provide, so my bill would require 
that States enter all disqualifying information into the NICS system. 
And since so many of our States are experiencing budget problems, my 
bill would give grants to States to ensure they comply. This 
legislation would prevent gun violence without infringing on second 
amendment rights. This bill passed the House in 2002 via voice vote, 
but time ran out in the 107th Congress before the other body could 
consider the matter. But the bill had the support of several

[[Page 27572]]

Members of Congress who are well known for their support of gun rights.
  Mr. Speaker, our police officers are already overburdened. With a 
simple voice vote, we can help them out by making sure felons aren't 
able to buy guns. We owe it to Dillon Stewart and the rest of the brave 
men and women who have lost their lives protecting their communities.
  Let's bring up H.R. 1415 and pass it as quickly as possible. This 
bill will save lives and relieve the already heavy burden placed on our 
police officers. I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to 
listen to their fellow Republican, Mayor Bloomberg, and start passing 
commonsense gun legislation. We can do a better job. We are fighting 
wars around the world. We are also fighting wars here in our own 
country. Every single day someone dies of gun violence. We can do a 
better job. We can make sure that the criminals have a harder time 
getting the weapons that are on our streets. We must have uniform 
Federal laws to protect our citizens.

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