[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15653-15654]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    AUTOMATIC GUNFIRE PREVENTION ACT

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, yesterday I introduced the Automatic 
Gunfire Prevention Act of 2017.
  First, I would like to thank Senators Blumenthal, Murphy, Schumer, 
Durbin, Leahy, Cortez Masto, Van Hollen, Gillibrand, Klobuchar, Markey, 
Casey, Reed, Hassan, Merkley, Carper, Cardin, Coons, Franken, Harris, 
Booker, Whitehouse, Hirono, Sanders, Warren, Cantwell, McCaskill, 
Nelson, Murray, Udall, Kaine, Warner, Bennet, Schatz, Wyden, Brown, 
Duckworth, Menendez, and Baldwin for cosponsoring this legislation. 
Their support for this bill is deeply appreciated.
  Just days ago, in Las Vegas, NV, we experienced the worst mass 
shooting--in terms of the number of victims--in our Nation's history.
  There are now at least 58 dead and nearly 500 wounded as a result of 
that attack. The grief and pain of so many victims and their loved ones 
is overwhelming and all too familiar to gun violence victims and 
survivors all across America.
  What makes this mass shooting particularly devastating is that the 
shooting was done by a single gunman. Within minutes, the gunman 
exacted devastating firepower on hundreds of people, terrorizing 
concertgoers and an entire community.
  How was this possible?
  While facts are still being uncovered, we know that this particular 
gunman had amassed a vast arsenal. He had at least 23 firearms and 
hundreds of rounds of ammunition in his hotel room among which were 12 
semiautomatic rifles enhanced with ``bump-stock'' devices.
  These bump-stock devices are typically used to turn semiautomatic 
rifles into functional machine guns, capable of shooting hundreds of 
bullets per minute.
  A semiautomatic rifle's rate of fire is usually 45 to 60 rounds per 
minute. With a bump-stock device attached, these semiautomatic weapons 
can fire up to 700 rounds per minute. Bump-stock devices are readily 
accessible. They can be purchased online or at a store by anyone for 
merely $100.
  Anyone who has seen YouTube video clips of semiautomatic rifles 
outfitted with these devices knows just how devastating they are.
  The number of bullets that can be sprayed into a crowd within minutes 
is staggering.
  Because they are so dangerous, automatic machine-gun-like weapons 
have been categorically banned in America since 1986 under the National 
Firearms Act.
  This law was a direct response to the Prohibition Era's mobster 
crimes during which machine guns were used to kill their victims at a 
deadly rate.
  One seminal event during this period was the St. Valentine's Day 
Massacre of 1929.
  That tragic day was marked by the murder of seven men in a garage on 
the North Side of Chicago. The massacre was the culmination of a feud 
between an Irish American gang and another gang led by Al Capone. 
Organized crime was rampant during that era, and fully automatic 
weapons were the weapons of choice for gangsters. Indeed, the men who 
committed the St. Valentine's Day Massacre used Thompson submachine 
guns, known as ``Tommy guns,'' to mow down their victims.
  The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, which remains in infamy, clearly 
demonstrated that elected leaders must do something about this violence 
and get these fully automatic guns out of the hands of killers.
  As a result, the National Firearms Act was enacted in 1934. When 
originally passed, it heavily regulated machine guns, imposing a tax on 
the making and transferring of machine guns and other lethal weapons. 
It also imposed a special occupational tax on those engaged in the 
business of importing, manufacturing, and dealing in firearms regulated 
under the National Firearms Act.
  It also required the registration of all machine guns and other guns 
regulated under the National Firearms Act with the Treasury Secretary.
  Later, in 1986, the National Firearms Act was amended to ban all 
future automatic weapons from private possession, except for those 
legally owned and registered as of May 19, 1986.
  Therefore, today, automatic weapons are generally banned for civilian 
use--and rightfully so. They are absolutely lethal weapons of war and 
have no business being in our homes, our schools, our businesses, and 
our streets.
  Notwithstanding this outright ban, there is a loophole in the law 
that allows bump-stock devices to configure legal semiautomatic weapons 
so that they can function like a fully automatic weapon. This loophole 
must be closed.
  If automatic weapons are banned, these devices should be banned. 
There is no functional difference between automatic weapons and a bump-
stock enhanced semiautomatic weapon. Such devices are simply not needed 
to hunt or to use in a private home for self-defense.
  Like we saw in Las Vegas, these bump-stock devices allow those with a 
motive to kill to use fully legal firearms to wreak havoc and kill 
large numbers of people within minutes.
  The bill I have introduced is straightforward. It closes the loophole 
that allows civilians to purchase and use devices that convert 
semiautomatic weapons into machine guns. Specifically, it bans the 
sale, transfer, importation, manufacturing, or possession of bump fire 
devices, trigger cranks, or anything that accelerates a semiautomatic 
rifle's rate of fire.
  The bill further provides an exception to this ban, by allowing for 
the lawful possession of these devices by law enforcement and the 
government.
  Those who violate the ban would be subject to the same penalty 
available to those who illegally possess a machine gun under current 
law.
  Closing this loophole should not be a partisan issue. Anyone who has 
seen footage from the shooting in Las Vegas should recognize that 
weapons that are altered to emulate automatic gunfire should not be 
permitted in our communities.
  In my view, this bill is a modest proposal. It was one that was 
included in the Assault Weapons Ban legislation that I proposed 4 years 
ago, which we failed to pass in 2013.
  Tragically, had that legislation been enacted in 2013, it could have 
perhaps saved lives in Las Vegas.
  Indeed, when the police dispatcher was first contacted in Las Vegas 
at 10:09 PM local time, it took 11 minutes until the last shots were 
fired and the suspect was neutralized.
  Think of that for a moment. If automatic gunfire had been impossible 
for the gunman, less shots would have sprayed through Las Vegas that 
night, and less people may have died. That is extraordinarily sobering.
  I recall standing here on this floor nearly 4 years ago, urging my 
colleagues to adopt the assault weapons ban, pleading that it could 
possibly save lives.
  That was on the heels of one of the darkest days in American history, 
when 20 beautiful children and 6 educators had their lives taken at 
Sandy Hook Elementary School. It is an absolute travesty that Congress 
refused to act back then.

[[Page 15654]]

  It is my strongest belief that when our Nation is faced with dire 
situations--like sickness, or job stagnation, or human trafficking--it 
is our job, our solemn oath as lawmakers, to try to solve these 
problems.
  We utterly forsake that solemn oath when we simply do nothing; when 
we yield to cynicism or to a single lobbying faction.
  If we do not act today, we are failing the American people. We are 
failing our communities. We are failing responsible gun owners.
  I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill. We must act. Now is 
the time.

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