[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9490-9491]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              GUN VIOLENCE

  Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I rise to speak about three 
amendments to this bill that I think would help keep America safe from 
gun violence. After so many tragedies, including the mass murder 
earlier this month in Orlando, this Chamber has had one opportunity 
after another to do something about the gun violence crisis, and last 
night was our most recent chance.
  The American people are watching us, waiting to see what we will do, 
wondering if this time, after yet another mass shooting, after yet 
another hateful, angry person was able to have such easy access to a 
weapon of war to use it to quickly kill a crowd of innocent people--
maybe this time the Senate would act.

[[Page 9491]]

  But, no, this Chamber did nothing. The Senate didn't pass a single 
bill, not even a bill to prevent someone on the terror watch list from 
buying an illegal gun--not one. How many innocent people have to be 
killed by guns in this country before Congress is actually convinced to 
act?
  The Senate failed the American people last night, and there is no 
other way to put it. We aren't listening to our constituents who are 
desperate for Congress to act.
  This Chamber hasn't done anything to help keep the American people 
safe in the aftermath of so much violence. Every time a mass shooting 
happens somewhere in America--just like the one that occurred in 
Orlando--we hear the same calls for stronger, better, tougher laws. The 
American people overwhelmingly support them and nearly every time the 
gun industry and its powerful lobby do whatever they can do to block 
these bills to protect their own profits.
  It is the same cycle over and over again. Someone with no business 
handling a powerful deadly weapon of war has easy access to that weapon 
and then uses it to kill many people--quickly. We have to make it 
harder for hateful, violent, radicalized people to get their hands on 
weapons of war. The only way to change this--the only way--is if 
Congress fulfills its responsibility to protect the American people and 
pass new laws that help keep us safe.
  I have three amendments, new amendments, that have not been voted on 
this session. They are three amendments that actually could keep more 
Americans free of gun violence.
  First is a law enforcement bill. It is a bipartisan gun trafficking 
amendment which would finally make gun trafficking a Federal crime. One 
would assume that bringing weapons up I-95 and selling them out of the 
back of a truck to a gang member in New York City would be illegal, 
that it would be a Federal crime. It is not. It is not a Federal crime 
to do that.
  This bill is called the Hadiya Pendleton and Nyasia Pryear-Yard Gun 
Trafficking and Crime Prevention Act. It is named after two teenage 
girls who lost their lives because of gun violence in their 
neighborhoods. They were playing with friends, minding their own 
business, and a stray bullet shot them both down. Nyasia was killed in 
Brooklyn. Hadiya was killed in Chicago. These were two young girls. I 
met Nyasia's parents. They do not understand why their daughter had to 
die.
  Right now, there is no Federal law preventing someone from loading up 
a truck in Georgia, driving it up I-95, and reselling those weapons in 
a parking lot in Brooklyn to a gang member or other dangerous people 
who aren't eligible to buy guns anywhere else. This amendment would 
change that. It would give our law enforcement the tools they need to 
get illegal guns off the street and to prosecute those who are 
trafficking guns.
  The second amendment I would offer would require weapons dealers to 
keep physical inventories. This is something law enforcement has asked 
for. Without accurate inventory, it is impossible for law enforcement 
to know whether illegal gun sales are taking place or even if weapons 
have been stolen from that store.
  There are just a small number--a very small number--of bad gun 
dealers, but our law enforcement officials have a right to be able to 
find out who they are, why they are selling these weapons out of the 
back of their gun sales places and then selling them directly to 
criminals who drive them up I-95 and sell them to gang members in 
Brooklyn or the Bronx or in Harlem or in Buffalo.
  The third amendment is also a law enforcement amendment, something 
asked for by law enforcement. It would allow the ATF to ban foreign 
imports of military-style weapons, which tend to be used in crimes.
  Right now, many weapons with military-style features not intended for 
hunting, including those with high-capacity magazines and laser sights, 
are being dumped into the U.S. marketplace by foreign arms 
manufacturers. This amendment would help prevent those dangerous, 
military-style weapons from flooding our streets and ending up in the 
hands of criminals.
  No one in America should have to go through his or her daily life in 
fear of an angry, radicalized citizen who can easily buy a weapon of 
war and use it on innocent Americans. All of these amendments would 
help law enforcement do their jobs--be able to find criminals who are 
trafficking weapons, be able to find that small percentage of bad gun 
dealers and shut them down, and make sure foreign companies aren't 
flooding our market with illegal military weapons. These three changes 
would make a difference. They would help our law enforcement community 
keep our communities safe.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________