[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 10171-10172]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       AMERICANS WANT CONGRESS TO PASS MEANINGFUL GUN LEGISLATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Thompson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Mr. Speaker, Americans want Congress to 
pass meaningful legislation that will actually keep guns out of 
dangerous hands.
  So what is our majority doing?
  They are bringing up a bill that was not only drafted by the gun 
lobby, but that makes it nearly impossible to block gun sales to 
suspected terrorists. That is shameful.
  The American people deserve a Congress that is willing to stand up to 
the gun lobby and do what it takes to help keep our communities safe. 
Congress has a responsibility to listen to the people who we are 
supposed to represent, to put partisan politics aside, and to bring up 
commonsense, bipartisan legislation to keep guns away from those who 
shouldn't have them: suspected terrorists, criminals, domestic abusers, 
and the dangerously mentally ill. And the American people want those 
bills brought up now.
  More than 30 people are killed every day by someone using a gun. We 
can't afford to allow more innocent lives to be lost to gun violence.
  Just a few weeks ago, 49 innocent people were shot to death in the 
worst mass shooting our country has ever seen. Sadly, this isn't an 
insulated case. It has now been 3\1/2\ years since the tragedy at Sandy 
Hook took the lives of 20 elementary school kids and six educators, but 
for reasons that I will never understand, that horrific tragedy wasn't 
enough to convince the Republican leadership that something--
something--needs to be done to prevent the next tragedy.

[[Page 10172]]

  Let me give you some numbers:
  Three and a half, that is how many years it has been since Sandy 
Hook; 34,000, that is the number of people who have been killed by 
someone using a gun since Sandy Hook; 1,182, that is the number of mass 
shootings that have taken place since Sandy Hook; 520, that is the 
number of days the House has been in session; 30, the moments of 
silence that we have observed on this House floor because of gun 
violence.
  Most important, zero. Zero. That is the number of votes that this 
House has taken to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people.
  What is the majority so afraid of? Is their fear greater than the 
fear of those young kids at Sandy Hook, or those parishioners in 
Charleston, or those young people at the nightclub in Orlando?
  It is long past time for the House to give us a vote on meaningful 
legislation to make sure that terrorists, criminals, domestic abusers, 
and the dangerously mentally ill don't have easy access to guns in our 
country.
  There is bipartisan legislation that would prohibit those on the 
FBI's terrorist watch list from being able to purchase firearms, and I 
have authored legislation, which has bipartisan support, to require 
background checks for all commercial gun sales. Background checks are 
our first line of defense when it comes to stopping dangerous people 
from getting firearms. They work. Every day more than 170 felons, some 
50 domestic abusers, and nearly 20 fugitives are stopped from buying a 
gun because of background checks. But in 34 States, criminals, domestic 
abusers, and the dangerously mentally ill can bypass the background 
check by purchasing guns online, at a gun show, or through an ad in the 
paper. This is a dangerous loophole that needs to be closed, and it 
needs to be closed now.
  The bill has 186 bipartisan coauthors. Bring our bill up for a vote. 
There is absolutely no reason why anyone should oppose this background 
check bill. Not only is it bipartisan, it respects the Second Amendment 
rights of law-abiding citizens.
  I am a gun guy. I own guns. I support the Second Amendment. If this 
bill did anything to violate those rights, my name wouldn't be on it.
  All this background check bill does is require that folks pass a 
background check before purchasing guns online, at a gun show, or 
through an ad. Plain and simple. It does nothing to infringe on the 
Second Amendment right of law-abiding citizens to own firearms.
  This debate on background checks isn't a choice between either 
protecting the Second Amendment or reducing gun violence. It is about 
the willingness of a responsible majority to do both. If there is one 
thing we should all be able to agree on, it is that suspected 
terrorists, criminals, domestic abusers, and the dangerously mentally 
ill shouldn't have guns.
  Mr. Speaker, give us a vote. Bring up H.R. 1076: bipartisan, 
effective, no fly, no buy legislation. And bring up H.R. 1217: 
bipartisan background check legislation.
  Mass shootings followed by moments of silence and no action cannot 
become America's new normal. We need to vote, and we need to vote now.

                          ____________________