[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16743]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       LET'S CLOSE THE LOOPHOLES

  (Mr. DEUTCH asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. DEUTCH. Mr. Speaker, what do the mayors of cities like Houston, 
Texas; Tallahassee, Florida; and Portland, Maine, have in common? They 
all support closing loopholes in our background check laws, loopholes 
that let convicted felons and those with severe mental illness buy 
deadly weapons. That is just one of the findings from Politico 
magazine's recent ``What Works'' survey of mayors from across the 
country.
  In red States and in blue States in every part of this country, 90 
percent of mayors say they want stronger background checks, 86 percent 
say they want the gun show loophole closed, and 78 percent want those 
subject to restraining orders barred from ever buying guns. It is no 
surprise why.
  America's mayors witness up close the gun violence that plagues our 
country every day. They know the victims of the homicides, the 
suicides, the accidental shootings, and the domestic gun violence that 
leave families forever shattered. They know how hollow the gun lobby 
sounds when it says there is nothing we can do to prevent more 
tragedies, and they know that it is within the power of this Congress 
to fix the laws that do not work and to save the lives that need not be 
lost.

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