[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 10177]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 COMMONSENSE LEGISLATION TO DISARM HATE

  (Mr. COURTNEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, in the wake of the horrific events in 
Orlando on June 12, an extraordinary group of Americans have come 
together calling for commonsense gun control legislation. The Veterans 
Coalition for Common Sense was formed, again, within hours, and among 
its ranks are General David Petraeus; General Stanley McChrystal; 
Admiral Thad Allen, the retired commandant of the Coast Guard; and 
General Michael Hayden, former head of the Air Force. The list goes on 
and on.
  And why?
  General Pete Chiarelli, the former vice chief of staff of the Army, 
stated it very clearly: ``I have seen firsthand what weapons of war can 
do. There is no reason we cannot close the loopholes that allow these 
killing machines to fall into the hands of criminals, those who are 
mentally ill or those who wish to do harm to innocent men, women and 
children.''
  The sit-in a couple of weeks ago was exactly about what General 
Chiarelli said, which is to pass the King-Thompson bills to close the 
loopholes and to require that people who are on the no-fly list cannot 
purchase weapons that go out and result in mass killings of far too 
many Americans.
  We should listen to the people who wore the uniform of our country, 
those leaders who, again, protected and defended not only the 
Constitution but all of us, and listen to their message and pass the 
King-Thompson bills.

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