[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 13015-13016]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING AURORA'S LOSS

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, as we gain perspective on the recent 
horrific shooting in Aurora, CO, our thoughts and prayers are with the 
victims, their families, and on all those who have been impacted by 
this tragedy. I, like many Americans, have been uplifted by the many 
examples of courage and heroism that have emerged from this dark 
moment. A young woman refusing to leave her injured friend, pulling her 
out of harm's way. A man giving his life to shield a loved one. A 19-
year-old stepping back into danger to rescue a mother and her two young 
daughters. These stories and the others that will almost certainly 
emerge as time goes on serve as powerful reminders of the simple 
decency that makes our Nation strong.
  But as we reflect on these stories, it is also important that we 
begin to understand what caused or contributed to this heinous act. 
When the alleged shooter burst into the theater, he opened fire on the 
audience with an AR-15 assault rifle. The AR-15 is a type of military-
style assault weapon, built for no purpose other than combat. According 
to the Congressional Research Service, they were designed in the 
aftermath of the Second World War to give soldiers a weapon suited for 
the modern battlefield. Such weapons often use high-capacity ammunition 
magazines, which allow shooters to continuously fire rounds without 
reloading. It has been reported that the alleged shooter used an 
oversized drum magazine, which reports have indicated could fire 100 
rounds without reloading.

[[Page 13016]]

  Between 1994 and 2004, a Federal ban prohibited the purchase of 
assault weapons. The idea was that if we took lethal weapons with no 
sporting purpose off the streets, it would make our society safer and 
protect American lives. Our law enforcement community strongly 
supported it. And it worked. After the ban was enacted, Brady Campaign 
studies observed a 66 percent decrease in the number of assault weapons 
that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, ATF, traced back to 
a crime scene. When assault weapons were taken off the market, our 
Nation became safer. But, unfortunately, Congress allowed the assault 
weapons ban to lapse in 2004, and repeated efforts to reinstate it have 
been unsuccessful.
  So this past May, when the alleged gunman walked into a local gun 
shop, he was able to purchase an AR-15 assault rifle. The sale was 
completely legal. Two months later, he used that same weapon to open 
fire on a movie theater, filled with innocent people. The oversized 
ammunition magazine allowed him to fire continuously. Thankfully, the 
weapon jammed during the attack, and he was forced to switch to one of 
the other three firearms he had purchased, legally, in the preceding 
weeks. He killed 12 and injured 58. Some were fathers and sons, mothers 
and daughters. They were all individuals with plans and dreams. Some 
were members of our armed services, who had volunteered to fight for 
our country.
  Mr. President, as elected officials, our greatest responsibility is 
to protect the lives of the American people. A renewal of the Federal 
ban on assault weapons would help keep these combat weapons off our 
streets and out of our neighborhoods. It would prevent them from 
getting into the hands of criminals who can legally buy them today or 
who can easily secure a straw purchaser to do so. They aren't used to 
hunt; they are too often used to kill. I urge my colleagues to 
reinstate the Federal ban on assault weapons and to take up and pass 
legislation like S. 32, the Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device 
Act, which would prohibit the sale of military-style ammunition 
cartridges. We can honor the memory of those who lost their lives in 
Aurora in many ways--one would be by passing such legislation.

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