[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8879]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  NEWTOWN ANNIVERSARY AND GUN CONTROL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. I rise to join the leader. I rise to join Congresswoman 
Esty and Congressman Thompson in recognizing this sad anniversary.
  Mr. Speaker, it is with sadness that we mark the 6-month anniversary 
tomorrow of the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 
Newtown.
  On that day, as has been repeated and must be remembered, Americans 
were united in shock and grief at the senseless murder by a crazed 
gunman of 26 innocent people--of 20 innocent first graders and six 
courageous school staff members--who tried to protect them and helped 
save the lives of others. Since that day, approximately 4,500--the 
leader mentioned 5,000, but it's a figure in excess of 4,500--Americans 
have died as a result of gun violence, according to the Newtown Action 
Alliance.
  Mr. Speaker, this is not just a tragedy; it is an epidemic, one that 
Congress has a moral responsibility to address. When nine out of 10 
Americans support stricter background checks to keep dangerous guns out 
of the hands of criminals and those with mental illness, there is no 
reason why Congress shouldn't be able to take swift and decisive action 
to enact tougher protections. I was deeply disappointed, Mr. Speaker, 
that the Senate failed to move forward with legislation to protect 
Americans from gun violence by enacting effective background checks 
that safeguard the constitutional rights of responsible gun owners and 
safeguard Americans.
  The American people are demanding action, and the House now has a 
chance to succeed where the Senate failed. Demonstrating that 
commonsense proposals to reduce gun violence can, indeed, command 
bipartisan support, Democratic Representative Mike Thompson of 
California, who chairs the House Democratic Task Force on Gun Violence, 
and my friend Republican Representative Peter King of New York have 
joined together to introduce legislation in this Chamber similar to 
that which was blocked in the Senate. There is not a single provision 
in their bill that should be worrisome to those concerned about our 
longstanding tradition of protecting Second Amendment rights--not a 
single provision.
  It will help us keep firearms out of the hands of dangerous and 
mentally unstable individuals likely to do harm to others or 
themselves. Will it keep all of us safe all the time? It will not. We 
know that. That is the tragic fact of life. But will it help? It will. 
If we can help, should we? The answer is an emphatic ``yes.''

                              {time}  1040

  This proposal contains commonsense proposals that I strongly support 
and that most Americans have supported, as well.
  Congress has the opportunity to get this right by considering the 
Thompson-King legislation in the House and sending it to the Senate for 
consideration.
  I congratulate Congresswoman Esty in particular, as well as 
Congressman Thompson, for their leadership and efforts in this regard. 
After the backlash many Senators received for opposing expanded 
background checks, I suspect that a number may be ready to reconsider.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to come together, as Representative 
Thompson and Representative King have done, to advance this bipartisan 
solution to this pressing challenge facing our Nation--not just the 
Congress, but every American.
  It should not take and it must not take another tragedy such as 
Newtown for us to act. We have a responsibility to keep our 
neighborhoods and our schools safe. I urge Speaker Boehner and Majority 
Leader Cantor to allow this bill to come to the floor for a vote.
  The Speaker often says that he wants to allow the House to work its 
will. That's why the people of Newtown sent Congresswoman Esty to 
Congress. That's why the people of my district and every district 
represented in this House, people sent them here to vote on policies, 
policies to make their country better, policies to make their country 
more safe.
  The memories of those children, the memories of those teachers, the 
memories of those 26, and, yes, the memories of those 4,500-plus who, 
since the Newtown tragedy, have lost their lives to violence, their 
memory, Mr. Speaker, demands and deserves action by their 
representatives.

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