[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15468-15469]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        PREVENTING GUN VIOLENCE

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, as the 112th Congress returns after the 
election, we should consider this important question: Have we done our 
share to help prevent gun violence? Statistics from the Brady Campaign 
to Prevent Gun Violence give a clear answer--no. Almost 100,000 people 
die as the result of gun violence in America every single year. This 
statistic includes 12,000 people who are murdered, 18,000 who commit 
suicide, and 20,000 under the age of 20. On average, 270 people are 
shot in the United States every single day.
  Our society faces an epidemic of gun violence. Consider stories that 
have gone largely unreported in recent months: Near Chicago, a 16-year-
old was shot twice in the head while riding in a car on her way home. A 
staff member on a prominent university's medical campus accidentally 
discharged his handgun at work and injured two people. And on election 
day, a parolee in California walked into the plant where he worked, 
methodically murdered two of his coworkers, and wounded another two 
before shooting himself.
  Stories like these flash across newspapers for a few days or weeks, 
and then the national spotlight moves on. But we cannot forget that 
while reporters may leave, the tragic effects of gun violence linger. 
They forever alter the lives of good, talented young people, like 
Ashley Moser, who lost her 6-year-old daughter in the horrific movie 
theater attack in Aurora, CO. She is partially paralyzed now and faces 
significant health problems and medical bills. But even after this 
nightmare, Congress did nothing to prevent guns from falling into the 
hands of would-be killers.
  Congress has the power to act to prevent more of these tragedies. We 
can take up and pass legislation like S. 32, which would prohibit the 
purchase of the same types of high-capacity magazines that allowed the 
shooter in Aurora to hurt so many people, so quickly. We could enact S. 
35, the Gun Show Loophole Act of 2011, which would close the ``gun show 
loophole'' by requiring all gun sellers at gun shows to conduct a Brady 
criminal background check on prospective purchasers. We could take up 
and pass S. 34, the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous 
Terrorists Act of 2011, which would close

[[Page 15469]]

the ``terror gap'' by authorizing the Attorney General to deny the 
transfer of a firearm when an FBI background check reveals that the 
prospective purchaser is a known or suspected terrorist. These are 
commonsense measures that would protect the American people by reducing 
firearm violence in our society.
  Mr. President, it was over a month ago that a woman named Nina 
Gonzalez stood at the second Presidential debate and asked President 
Obama and Governor Romney a simple question: What would they do to keep 
assault weapons out of the hands of criminals?
  So, as the 112th Congress returns, we have some important unfinished 
business. There are few tasks before us more important than enacting 
measures that would help prevent tragedies like the ones occurring far 
too often around our Nation.

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