[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 10175]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              BIPARTISAN GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION MEASURES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Connecticut (Ms. Esty) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, this House's silence on preventing gun 
violence and keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals is 
a betrayal of the American people.
  Americans are 25 times more likely to be murdered with a gun than in 
any of our peer countries; and since the horrific shootings at Sandy 
Hook Elementary School in my district, in the last 3\1/2\ years, 
100,000 Americans have lost their lives to gun violence. Think about 
that--100,000 Americans. That is the size of a good-sized American 
city, every single one of them dead because of a gun. And this House--
this House--has done nothing.
  We are elected to respond to the needs of the American people. We are 
elected to keep Americans safe; and right now, felons, domestic 
violence abusers, even suspected terrorists can buy a gun of their 
choice without a background check, no questions asked.
  And the bad guys are well aware of this big, gaping loophole in our 
laws. Here is what an al Qaeda spokesman said in a propaganda video in 
2011:
  ``America is absolutely awash in easily obtainable firearms. You can 
go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with 
a fully automatic assault weapon, without a background check, and most 
likely without having to show an identification card. So what are you 
waiting for?''
  The real question is: What are we, what are we in this Chamber, 
waiting for?
  We have the no fly, no buy bill, a bipartisan bill to close the 
terror loophole, and we have a bipartisan bill to strengthen background 
checks so that they apply to all commercial sales of guns.
  Now, I know many Americans assume that the laws we have on the books 
are strong enough, it is just a question of enforcement; but, sadly, 
that is not true. That is not true. Somewhere between 30 and 40 percent 
of all gun sales right now do not go through background checks at all, 
not at all, so the bad guys just have to go to an unlicensed dealer or 
go online.
  And let's be very clear. Twenty years ago, when Congress passed the 
background check bill, when they passed that bill, people didn't buy 
guns online. People didn't buy much of anything online, so Congress 
didn't even have it in its head to close a loophole it wasn't aware of. 
But it is now this Congress', it is now our job to respond to the needs 
of the 100,000 Americans who have died in the last 3\1/2\ years and to 
take action to save lives.
  Now, no single law--no single law--can end gun violence, but we do 
know that laws work. They work, and improved background checks save 
lives.
  For example, in Connecticut, our permit-to-purchase law has reduced 
gun homicides by 40 percent. That translates into 296 lives saved over 
a 10-year time period.
  In States that have closed background check loopholes, 46 percent 
fewer women are killed by domestic partners, and 48 percent fewer on-
duty police officers are shot to death. That is half of those lives 
saved. And each one of those lives saved is precious. Each one has a 
family. Each one has loved ones. Sometimes we forget that when we are 
talking about thousands of this and hundreds of that and millions of 
dollars and trillions of dollars. Each and every life is important and 
precious, and we are sworn to help the American people.
  Here is the bottom line. Better laws work, and background checks work 
to save lives.
  The bill that the majority is bringing up this week doesn't really 
help. In fact, it addresses the terror gap in ways that will hamper the 
FBI's efforts to keep us safer.
  But let me be very, very clear. Without background checks on every 
single gun sale, no matter what we do on closing the terror gap, it 
won't matter, because the bad guys will continue avoiding the law, 
whether it is domestic violence abusers, felons, the dangerously 
mentally ill, or suspected terrorists.
  Mr. Speaker, there are steps we can take to make our communities 
safer; there are steps we can take to save lives; and I call on this 
House to call up, this week, the bipartisan bill to expand background 
checks.

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