[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15816-15817]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE SHOOTING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, last Thursday another horrific episode 
of gun violence--the seemingly unrelenting stream of tragedy and 
horror--only this time it was visited on Oregon, in a modest mill town 
of Roseburg.
  The scene of the carnage was a picturesque, some would say idyllic, 
community college campus just north of town, where a shooter burst into 
a classroom at Umpqua Community College and started methodically 
killing nine people, wounding seven others.
  On the 274th day of 2015, this was the 294th such episode. President 
Obama made an impassioned, forceful, and poignant response--at once 
fierce and sad, as eloquent as anything I have heard him say throughout 
his political career.
  And who could blame him? Not a single calendar week has passed during 
his second term without another mass shooting.
  The core of his message was the question for all Americans, 
especially the apologists for gun violence: Why is the United States 
the only developed country in the world that cannot protect our 
families from gun massacres? No other country comes remotely close to 
this carnage. Why should we lose 15 times as many as our family members 
as Germany every year?
  When other countries like Canada, Britain, and Australia--that are 
probably more similar to our country than any others--why were they 
able to respond not just with outrage or moments of silence, but with 
action after mass shooting events, to make a difference, to make their 
families safer, 10 times safer in Australia than in the United States? 
It is past time that people who claim to be leaders in both parties 
answer this question.
  I am pleased that the response from my party was not one of 
hopelessness, resignation, or ``stuff happens,'' but instead calls to 
action with simple, commonsense steps that are widely supported by the 
American public.
  I am pleased that Hillary Clinton was first and foremost with a 
strong call to action. I am pleased that Senator Bernie Sanders appears 
to be changing his attitude and policies on gun safety.
  It is interesting that two Democratic Senators running for re-
election last year, Mark Begich and Mark Pryor, who cast what I can 
only describe as a craven vote against universal background checks, 
lost anyway. It ought to be a message about our values and our 
direction. I am hopeful that there will be greater accountability for 
both parties to supply solutions.
  There is no excuse for ours to be the only developed country that 
cannot protect our children. The American public should demand answers 
from everyone who pretends we can't protect our children. Ours is the 
only country, for instance, where leaders prohibit the

[[Page 15817]]

government from even investigating gun violence, its causes, and 
solutions.
  The President exhorted us to not be numb to gun violence. One is 
hopeful in the midst of this unprecedented bizarre Presidential 
nominating process, already in full swing, with more than a year yet to 
go, that perhaps we have the opportunity to make sure this doesn't 
leave the national political stage.
  With comments like Republican candidate Ben Carson condemning 
President Obama's decision to visit and console the families in 
Roseburg in a private meeting, that somehow he would wait for the next 
one, it is stunning.
  I was in Springfield, Oregon, when President Clinton visited those 
families, consoling them, demonstrating compassion and the concern of 
the country. It was a sign of respect and was moving to all who 
witnessed it. I can't imagine a more callous, heartless remark than 
that of Dr. Carson, who would wait until the next one.
  Reasonable people should ask reasonable questions about reasonable 
solutions and demand from politicians their answer to the question: 
When stuff happens, why can't we protect our families from this 
slaughter, and what are they prepared to do to change it?

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