[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 10249-10250]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN VIOLENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi) is 
recognized for half of the remaining time until 10 p.m. as the designee 
of the minority leader.
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, 2 weeks ago on this floor, the Democrats 
said: We want a vote. We want a vote on a bill that would prohibit 
terrorists who are on the no-fly list from being able to buy a gun and 
explosives, and we want a vote on comprehensive background checks. So 
we sat down and created a bit of confusion and maybe even some anger.
  I am pleased that the Speaker has decided that maybe there will be 
some piece of legislation, a piece of legislation, H.R. 5611. 
Unfortunately, it doesn't even come close to solving the problem and 
probably makes it worse. It is written in such a way that it is 
virtually unenforceable, will guarantee that terrorists will be given a 
heads-up that they are being looked at and investigated by the FBI, and 
it puts the courts in an impossible situation where they have to find 
probable cause that there is a terrorist out there who has done 
something bad or is likely to do something bad, in which case just go 
arrest them. You don't need to do more than that. You already have 
probable cause. Arrest them.
  The bill is a nonstarter, so we are not going to go away. We are 
going to stay at this until we have decent legislation.
  There are two pieces: a bill by Mr. King of New York, a Republican, 
and the same, coauthored by Mr. Thompson of California, that would 
expand the background checks, which is absolutely essential; and also 
one that provides for no fly, no buy.
  We would like to have a vote on the bills. Put them on the floor, Mr. 
Speaker. You can do this. Put your bill on the floor, put our two bills 
on the floor, and let us, the 435 Representatives, speak to this issue.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the minority leader.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Garamendi for his 
consistent, persistent leadership in these Special Orders to put forth 
issues of concern to the American people.
  Right now, we are talking about saving lives. We are talking about 
responsible background checks on gun purchases as well no fly, no buy. 
If you are on the terrorist list, if you can't fly, then you shouldn't 
be able to buy a gun. What is so difficult about that for our 
Republican majority to understand?
  Actually, on the background check legislation, we are talking about 
expanding the background check bill that already exists to include 
Internet sales, something relatively new--not new compared to when we 
passed the bill in the middle nineties--and we are talking about gun 
shows. This would save lives to have background checks on everyone who 
is there to purchase a gun.
  Eighty-five percent of the American people support responsible 
legislation for background checks, which is what we are proposing, and 
90 percent support no fly, no buy. The only place where there is an 
obstacle to this reasonable commonsense legislation is on the floor of 
the House of Representatives.
  I am so proud of our Members led by John Lewis 2 weeks ago, tomorrow, 
who led the sit-in on the floor of the House. It was remarkable, and it 
generated interest throughout the world--

[[Page 10250]]

over 2 billion impressions from what went out from the floor of this 
House--something remarkable, something appropriate for the people's 
House. Then, following that, for this to go on for 25 hours and then to 
continue over the weeks when we were in recess into our districts, to 
have the beat go on. Now we are back, and the beat will continue to go 
on.
  I think if there is one message of hope that John Lewis gave all of 
us, it is that we are not going away until the job is done.
  So, respectfully, I ask our Speaker of the House to give us a vote, 
to enable us to show the support that commonsense, sensible gun safety 
legislation has in this House. I believe that, if given the 
opportunity, this House would support that legislation. Maybe that is 
why it will not be brought up.
  But I will also associate myself with the concerns expressed by Mr. 
Garamendi about a bill, the Cornyn bill. I think it has a new name in 
the House. It is the gun lobby bill--the gun lobby bill--the NRA bill. 
It is not a gun safety bill. It is an excuse for not doing something 
really effective and sensible.
  So you will be seeing the stories of the people and the families 
affected, the most eloquent stories of all, their stories of their 
loss, and they are channeling their grief to make sure it doesn't 
happen to other families. What a beautiful sense of community.
  We thank John Lewis for being the unifier in all of that, and we 
thank all of our Members for their participation.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi).
  Mr. GARAMENDI. I thank the minority leader. I am delighted to have 
the gentlewoman's leadership on this issue. It is profoundly important.
  I understand tomorrow, at 10 o'clock, 91 people will be outside, 
together with many members of our caucus, to demonstrate that each day 
91 people are killed by guns here in the United States.
  So we have work to do. It is very simple. All we are asking for is a 
vote on a no fly, no buy bill that actually works--not the Cornyn bill, 
not the Republican bill, but one that actually works, put together by 
Mr. King of New York and Mr. Thompson of California--and also a bill 
that deals with expanding the background check. Put them on the floor, 
Mr. Speaker.
  And one more, I promise, Mr. Speaker, we are not going to go away 
until the American public has the safe gun measures written into law.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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