[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8689-8690]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                TRAGEDY HAS ONCE AGAIN STRUCK OUR NATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Nadler) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, this week tragedy once again struck our 
Nation when the deadliest mass shooting in American history occurred in 
an LGBT nightclub in Orlando early Sunday morning, leaving 49 people 
dead and more than 50 wounded. Our hearts go out to the victims and 
their families. So many young people in the prime of their lives were 
senselessly murdered.
  It is hard to make sense of it all, but there are three aspects of 
this tragedy that I want to address today:
  First, the fact that the shooter pledged allegiance to ISIS is deeply 
disturbing. We need to follow every lead and find out if he did, 
indeed, have any connection to ISIS or any other terrorist group. We 
must pursue those who may have inspired him, trained him, or assisted 
him in his deadly act,

[[Page 8690]]

and we must take action to prevent others from being radicalized and 
turned into deadly killing machines.
  Second, we must acknowledge that this was a hate crime targeted at 
the LGBT community. The killer didn't pick his target randomly. He 
sought out gay, young men in a club environment where they felt safe, 
where they felt a sense of community and acceptance, and he sought to 
shatter their world and terrorize and intimidate the LGBT community.
  I have worked with my friends in the LGBT community for a very long 
time, and one thing I am sure of is that they will not be intimidated; 
they will not be beaten down; they will not be forced into hiding; they 
will not be silenced. The community is strong, it is united, and it is 
unashamed. The LGBT community will come together to honor the dead and 
then will keep educating, keep advocating, keep mobilizing for a more 
fair, a more just society where no one has to live in fear because of 
who they are or whom they love.
  Third, it is clear that far fewer people would have been killed or 
wounded if the attacker had not had access to a deadly assault weapon. 
Once again, the necessity of controlling access to military-style 
assault weapons, whose only purpose is to kill large numbers of people 
as quickly and efficiently as possible, is made tragically clear.
  Our refusal to ban assault weapons makes this House complicit in this 
and every other mass murder that we now see on a regular basis. This 
Chamber is drenched in blood. We must cleanse it. We must pass the 
long-pending legislation to reinstitute the assault weapon ban. We ban 
machine guns, and we had an assault weapon ban not that long ago, so it 
is not a radical proposal. It is not counter to the Second Amendment. 
It is just common sense. And yet, President George W. Bush let the ban 
expire, and Republicans in Congress have acted repeatedly to prevent 
even our consideration of renewing the ban.
  Every Member of Congress who has refused to support renewing the ban 
should be forced to answer to their constituents, to their country, and 
to the countless victims and their families who have suffered so much 
heartbreak due to gun violence.
  How can you allow such carnage to go unchecked? How can you do 
nothing in the face of so much pain? Why won't you stand up to the NRA 
and at least take the basic step to prevent mass murder? Why won't you 
ban people on the terrorist watch list from purchasing assault weapons? 
If someone is too dangerous to permit to fly, certainly he or she is 
too dangerous to permit to buy assault weapons.
  And yet this Congress has done nothing except hold repeated moments 
of silence. That is not enough. This silence, combined with this 
inaction, makes hypocrites of us all. The American people are baffled 
by our silence. They demand more. They demand action, action to combat 
hate, to protect the LGBT community, and to control access to deadly 
weapons to prevent murderers and lunatics from getting assault weapons.
  If the leadership of this Congress won't take action, then it ought 
to be replaced by a leadership that will.

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