[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15704]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN VIOLENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, last Thursday, on the campus of Umpqua 
Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, nine innocent men and women lost 
their lives. They were killed, as so many have been this year in 
communities across our country, because a person with evil in their 
heart was able to get his hands on a gun.
  This horrific event was the 294th mass shooting that we have seen in 
2015, more than any other country in the world. So far this year, we 
have mourned nine parishioners who were killed during Bible study at 
their church in Charleston, South Carolina; two women who were killed 
and nine others who were injured at a movie theater in Lafayette, 
Louisiana; and a local television reporter and her cameraman who died 
covering a story outside Lynchburg, Virginia.
  But there were thousands of other victims of gun violence. Their 
deaths have garnered less media attention, but they too deserve to have 
their stories told.
  In the United States this year, more than 10,000 people have died and 
more than 20,000 have been injured during an incident that involved a 
gun. Each day an average of 92 Americans are killed in an incident 
involving a gun.
  Yesterday the victims included the supervisor of a food market in 
Houston who was killed by a disgruntled employee; a 21-year-old father 
of two in Louisville; and a 23-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman 
who were killed outside New Orleans during a drive-by shooting. 
Altogether, nearly 1.5 million Americans have lost their lives to gun 
violence since the year 1970.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no doubt that every one of my colleagues in this 
Chamber has spent much of the last few days thinking about and praying 
for the victims in Oregon and their families. I know I have.
  But to put it bluntly, our thoughts and prayers aren't good enough, 
not for those who have already been killed and not for the 92 Americans 
who are going to lose their lives today, tomorrow, and every day until 
we do something.
  Thoughts and prayers won't bring back the innocent men, women, and 
children who have been killed or heal the families that have been torn 
apart. Thoughts and prayers are no excuse for inaction and cowardice in 
the face of powerful special interests.
  It is on all of us to do better than thoughts and prayers. It is long 
past time to take actions to reduce the threat of gun violence and to 
do all we can to protect our constituents from the ravages of this 
epidemic.
  Earlier this year I introduced a package of three bills to get to the 
core of our country's problem with gun violence by focusing on keeping 
guns from children, criminals, and those who are severely mentally ill 
such that possession of a firearm would pose a threat to themselves or 
others.
  The End Purchase of Firearms by Dangerous Individuals Act, H.R. 2917, 
requires that States provide information to the National Instant 
Criminal Background Check System on individuals who are committed to a 
mental institution or make a threat of violence to a mental health 
professional that demonstrates that this individual would present a 
danger to himself or others if armed with a gun.
  The Fire Sale Loophole Closing Act, H.R. 2916, ends the practice by 
which Federally licensed gun dealers who lose their licenses for 
misconduct can convert their entire inventory to a ``personal 
collection'' in order to liquidate it without conducting background 
checks on their customers. Under the law, such dealers could transfer 
their inventory only to other properly licensed Federal gun dealers.
  I also introduced a resolution, H. Con. Res. 59, to support the goals 
of National ASK Day, which falls on June 21 each year. National ASK Day 
encourages parents to ask other parents whether their children are 
playing in a house with an unlocked gun.
  In the United States, 1.7 million children are in homes with loaded, 
unlocked guns. This initiative is supported by Head Start, the American 
Public Health Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
  In addition to these measures that I have introduced, I have also co-
sponsored the Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act to ban the 
sale of large-capacity magazines and Denying Firearms and Explosives to 
Dangerous Terrorists Act to prohibit individuals suspected of ties to 
terrorist organizations from purchasing a gun, and H.R. 2380 and H.R. 
3411, which fix our broken background check system.
  Any of these bills would immediately improve public safety in this 
country, a country that sees its citizens die at the hands of a loaded 
gun 297 times more than in Japan, 49 times more than in France, and 33 
times more than in Israel.
  Any one of these rational, commonsense proposals would immediately 
make life safer for men, women, and children in cities and towns across 
America; yet, we are going to sit on our hands because Republican 
leaders would rather genuflect before the National Rifle Association 
than do anything that could help save the lives of thousands of 
Americans.
  The last time this institution passed a major bill to prevent gun 
violence was November 10, 1993, when the House approved the Brady 
Handgun Violence Prevention Act and President Clinton signed it into 
law.
  Mr. Speaker, I will end by saying I do not know what it will take for 
us to finally take action. But I do know what I will do. I will 
continue speaking out every week on the floor of this Chamber until we 
get something done that makes our communities safer and honors the 
lives of all the victims who have lost their lives in this country to 
gun violence.

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