[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 10173-10174]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1230
                   WE NEED MEANINGFUL GUN LEGISLATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Doggett) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, when this House last convened, a number of 
us were willing to sit in, in order to stand up--to stand up to the gun 
lobby, to stand up against gun violence. During our protest, House 
Republicans fled Washington, rather than face accountability on gun 
safety, leaving behind significant unfinished business.
  During the past week, many of us across the country have joined 
neighbors in a national day of action against gun violence. I joined 
over 100 people in San Antonio, gathering with Patricia Castillo with 
the P.E.A.C.E. Initiative, Jamie Ford with Moms Demand Action, and 
State Senator Jose Menendez.
  On a hot afternoon in Austin, Texas, more than 100 of us also 
gathered with Mayor Steve Adler, Andrea Brauer from Texas Gun Sense, 
members of the Austin City Council, State Representative Donna Howard, 
and other elected officials, all asking this Congress to respond to the 
horrific wave of gun carnage that threatens the security of our 
families. Each of these gatherings included powerful testimony from 
family tragedies and losses as a result of guns.
  After the mass murders in Orlando and San Bernardino, carried out by 
individuals professing a twisted version of Islam, the most obvious 
next step is to question why, if someone is too dangerous to get on an 
airplane with you, they ought to be able to buy as many assault weapons 
as they would like? And ask why, in Orlando, the law enforcement 
officials did not hear about assault weapon purchases of one person who 
had been on the terrorist watch list? One of the three modest bills 
about which we were sitting-in would institute a no-fly, no-buy 
restriction.
  The day after our protest, to their credit, four of our Republican 
colleagues here in the House, for the first time, introduced a version 
of a proposal to prohibit such gun purchases, but also to provide a 
means by which someone could get off the no-fly list if they were on it 
improperly.
  This proposal copies verbatim one proposal that has been offered by 
Republican Senator Susan Collins. Hers is the only proposal pending in 
the United States Senate today that has not already been rejected. I 
think it is time for us to come together to unite behind this proposal. 
It is a modest step forward, but it is a step forward to address gun 
violence.
  Instead, we are told today that Speaker Ryan is, apparently, 
committed to blocking this bipartisan initiative and anything else that 
doesn't have a seal of approval from the National Rifle Association. 
Apparently, the only provision on which we will be allowed to vote here 
in this House is a proposal that the Senate has already rejected.
  This isn't action. It is theatrics. It is the appearance of the 
response to the concern of so many Americans for action on gun safety, 
without changing anything.
  Under this gun lobby proposal, in order to prevent a gun purchase, 
the Justice Department would be required to obtain a court order within 
72 hours to prove probable cause that a person has ``committed, 
conspired to commit, attempted to commit, or will commit an act of 
terrorism.'' Well, if our law enforcement can do that, they should not 
only be preventing a person from acquiring a gun, they ought to be 
taking them to prison.
  So much attention has focused on the sit-in on this floor, not enough 
has focused on the ``sit-on.'' I am talking about the Speaker, who sits 
on any legislation concerning gun violence, including that advanced by 
fellow Republicans, if it does not have approval of the gun lobby.
  We just celebrated Independence Day. How about the Republicans 
declaring independence from the gun lobby? Just once, in a very small, 
modest way declaring independence on a proposal that Republicans 
themselves have advanced--a few of them--to address more security for 
our families.
  The Republican leadership has tried so very desperately to avoid 
accountability on gun safety. They cut off these microphones. They fled 
the House in the middle of the night. Now they are cloaking themselves 
in an NRA-approved bill already rejected by the United States Senate 
that won't keep weapons of war out of the hands of terrorists.
  Everyone who owns a gun knows that sometimes you need to keep the 
safety on that gun. I think it is time to put the safety back in gun 
safety legislation. It is time to engage in meaningful, real reform.

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