Date: 2013-04-09
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank the gentlelady for bringing a sense of passion to this debate. So many of us can remember where we were and how incredulous it was when we heard the news coming. and first we thought this is not real. We couldnt be hearing it accurately. Maybe we were hearing the tragedy of six adults. that already was innocent teachers and principals. but we couldnt imagine you were talking about a classroom. that someone would open the door in a recovery mode and see the carnage that one had to be able to look at. Not to be any more graphic. but so much so that. as I understand it. many could not view the situation. And so I thought it was imperative to come from Houston today. and before I got on the airplane I stopped at the Konia Learning Center for K6. and I listened to babes talk about knowing Sandy Hook. raising their hands and about wanting to stop gun violence. and understanding that guns in the hands of teachers would not be the way to go. Having little ones in the fifth and sixth grades explain how fearful they would be to have guns with teachers. not because it was the idea that our teachers are not ones that are loving. but we know what happens with human nature and accidents. guns being taken out of drawers or purses or pockets and what can happen. Yes. I believe we can have common agreement on increasing school resource officers. however school districts would like to use them. We have very fine police departments for many of the school districts that I represent. and do you know what those chiefs of police told me in an earlier hearing that I had in my district. not one of them. university chiefs of police or school district chiefs of police. wanted to arm school personnel and teachers in the classroom to be able to protect our children. Those were the chiefs of police. I didnt put words in their mouths. and they wanted it to be known that they are the responsible ones for security. not to be able to arm those who in essence would be responsible for shooting a gun. making a decision when to shoot. and then not making a decision right and causing havoc. causing themselves to be shot. or causing someone else to be shot. As a matter of fact. at a press conference I had on the anniversary Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4 in my district. because we had been having these gun informational press conferences to raise the understanding. we have been working with a group by the name of Moms Demanding Action. thousands of moms across America. we were with them on Thursday. and then we were at the Lighthouse Church this past Sunday when Moms Demanding Action went to the pulpit. honored and recognized Pastor Henderson to talk about Moms Demanding Action to prevent gun violence. But this little school that I went to. I said to them that I would come and give their message on the floor of the House. that I would tell the President that I was in this school where these children are so bright. private school that it was. alongside a public school. these children spoke well about their fear of gun violence. the gun violence that they see around them and that they want to be in a place where they are safe. and guns they feel do not make them safe. So I got motivated. and I thank the Senators for informing me. a letter that I received March 22. 2013. from Senator PAUL. Senator CRUZ. and Senator MIKE LEE. and they have now grown to 13 Senators. I know they have good hearts. but the language that I want to read specifically says: We will oppose a motion to proceed to any legislation that will serve as a vehicle for any additional gun restrictions. You see. thats wrong in and of itself because were talking about sensible gun legislation. I dont want to restrict anything. I would like to take that word out of the vocabulary of sensible gun legislation. because I will not restrict you from getting a gun if you pass a background check. I will not restrict you from having guns in your home. but I will hold you responsible for guns that are not locked up. I will not restrict you from hunting. I will not restrict you as a sportsperson. I will not restrict you for a legitimate concealed weapons permit. but I will restrict that dastardly person who went to the door of a Colorado corrections chief and shot him dead because he had a gun that he should not have because we dont enforce. which we should. but add to the idea of preventing straw purchases for that individual for getting a gun because someone purchased the gun for him. Mr. Speaker. that can be blocked. And the idea of storage. my friends. Im talking about gun locks. Maybe somebody has a gun lock manufacturing company in their district. Just think what would happen if folks have to lock up their guns. at least the ones that are classic. the AR15s or the assault weapons that you already have. No one is coming to get those. But the guns that the young man had in Newtown. if only they had been locked up. Many people dont speak of it. but I think she deserves to be mentioned. his mother. who I know had to be a loving mother. I know she cared. She recognized the disturbed individual that he was. and maybe it might have gone another way. Maybe there should have been some other response to his situation. but all you can say is that mother was trying. But look at her. dead in her bed. Guns that were open to someone who was challenged. So. Mr. Speaker. I cant imagine why we would ignore some of the numbers that Im getting ready to share with you. But before I do that. let me raise again. if I can highlight what simple legislation that were asking for: require universal background checks to keep guns out of dangerous hands. Let me be very clear: dangerous hands. Ban militarystyle assault weapons. Limit highcapacity magazines. That was the kind of magazine that was used tragically in Arizona. The individual could keep shooting and shooting. and the only way he was stopped was when he had to reload. Just imagine. 15 rounds. 20 rounds. no reloading. And the individual in Newtown. 155 rounds in 5 minutes before he stopped. taking the lives of so many. Let me share with you these statistics that impact urban loss of life. rural loss of life. just the enormous tragedy. Take the incident of a rogue cop in California that wound up with weapons of war until he was finally caught. how many people he killed and how many more he could have killed. He had assaulttype weapons. If you speak to the law enforcement community. particularly right after Newtown. people became gunned up to the extent that when I spoke to my law enforcement. they indicated to me that they couldnt even find any guns. that people had bought guns so. so much. Let me share with you some of these numbers about gun violence. First of all. the number of persons killed by guns since Newtown. 440 in the United States. Im sure that number is down since the time these statistics were presented: 103 in Texas. 21 in Houston. 57 this month alone. 48.000 people killed annually in the United States. If I might remind you. over 1 million persons. Americans. have been killed by guns since John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Jr.. were assassinated. So let me remind you of that list. John F. Kennedy. assassinated by a gun in 1963. Bobby Kennedy. assassinated by a gun in 1968. Martin Luther King. assassinated by a gun in 1968. and Ronald Reagan. attempted assassination in his first term. and the critical and devastating injury to his press secretary. Mr. Brady. who has committed himself to gun safety. again. not to take your guns away. I thank you. Mr. Brady. We have had an opportunity to work together. I thank you for what was done. and certainly your legacy of commitment. I thank that legacy. Then. of course. let me thank Mr. Bloomberg. who is one that has shown his passion. so much so that he has received criticism. Thank you. Mayor Bloomberg. Thank you for standing up and saying that those who would stop gun legislation that is sensible. that they have to have their story told to those around the country and those in their district. for were not asking for anything. Were just asking for fairness. just an upordown vote. Let me share with you these numbers that I think are devastating. In 1 year. on average. almost 100.000 people in America are shot or killed with a gun. In 1 year. 31.000and this is from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence31.593 people died from gun violence and 66.769 people survived gun injuries. 12.179 people murdered. 44.466 people shot in an attack. 18.223 people who killed themselves. 3.031 people who survived a suicide attempt with a gun. Let me just stop for a moment. How tragic it is that someone would think that the only way out of their misery is by a gun. And it is well known by these statistics that if a gun is near you. if you are near a gun. if you are near a gun. then that leaves you more open to using that gun for violence against others or violence against yourself. If you make it easy. rather than giving these people mental health serviceswhich I think should go hand in hand with sensible gun legislation. and thats why Im supporting a number of initiatives and cosponsored initiatives by CAROLYN MCCARTHY. because it is important to find a balance and to be able to work on issues that would balance the needs of our community and mental health services. but also the needs of our community in being protected from gun violence. I want to restore the Centers for Disease Controls ability that was taken away a few Congresses ago by people who really dont understand sensible gun legislation. They stopped the Centers for Disease Control from doing the research and gathering the statistics on what violence does to America. what the medical cost is. what the psychological cost is. We want to reinstate that so that we can make important decisions. When I was with these children. one of the things that comes up in the idea of teen violence or the loss of life is that teens pick up guns 87 percent when they are bullied or when they feel someone has hurt them. said words to them. because the gun is accessible. They bring the gun to school. they have a gun. or they engage in gang violence. Dont separate gang violence and say its just a bunch of gangbangers. Its gangbangers who are kids who have guns. And the young man that I brought to the State of the Union was a redeemed gangbanger. was shot at 15. Hes here today. at 21. 22. about to get married. and shuns guns. But guns were accessible to him. He was already shot at in a driveby. And then after hes shot at in a driveby. then there was a point when they got him. Dont condemn the gangbangers. Theyve got guns that are trafficked. that are not enforced. that are straw purchased. and they come into places even that have strong gun laws. Why? Because we dont have sensible gun legislation. And yes. Im going to agree with my friends on the other side of the aisle. my Republican friends. Lets enforce the gun laws that we have. Who would run away from that? Thats a sensible proposition. Put a resolution on the floor of the House. Lets enforce the gun laws that we have. But join me in voting for universal gun background checks to close the gun show loopholes. I mentioned this idea of suicide. and let me just finish on this enormous. terrible number. How many of us have read articles. have seen over the last couple of days tragedies that have occurred that have been publicized nationally? All I can say is. you have a person who is disturbed. who has given up on life. who doesnt have a connection to faith. cannot find their faith leader. cannot get a hug from their family member. and all they think they can do is commit suicide. and theyve got a gun. I venture to say theres probably very limited numbers of those who take a knife and stab themselves. And yes. there are pills. But they have a gun because nobody was there to stop them. they werent able to get mental health services and theyve got a gun. 592 people were killed unintentionally. and 8.610 were shot unintentionally but survived. There was one time in Houston where every time school was out. little ones. 2 years old. 3 years old. 4 years old. teenagers. accidentally shooting themselves. playing with a gun. taking the gun from under the mattress. Guns not stored. Thats why we passed that legislation in Texas to hold adults responsible for a child that gets a gun and injures themselves. kills somebody. or kills themselves. Thats the least we can do for our children. Over 1 million have been killed with guns in the United States since 1968 when Dr. Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated. And then U.S. homicide rates are 6.9 times higher than rates in 22 other populous. highincome countries combined. despite similar nonlethal crime and violence rates. The firearm homicide rate in the United States is 19.5 times higher. Mr. Speaker. were not gaining anything by being gunned up. Among the 23 populous. highincome countries. 80 percent of all firearm deaths occurred in the United States. On Thursday. not only should we get a vote. not only should there be no filibuster. but we should win that vote. Win it in the name of somebody in your congressional district that died unfairly because someone who should not have had the gun had it. And I can venture to tell you that background checks will have a sizable impact. Now. somebody said in 1994. when we passed the assault weapons ban. that it didnt do anything. Oh. theres a big debate. Theres a tit for tat. But it is documented that the numbers of killings by assault weapons went down. Of course you can find other ways to kill people. but the utilization of assault weapons went down. Thats a victory. Thats a victory. When I had this listening session with my little ones at the Konia Learning Academy. we had pictures of these weapons. Do you know that these little ones that were preK could point out that these were machine guns? Little ones. What are we doing to our kids? They should call it a carrot because theyve never seen one. With the violence on TV. we want to talk about that. and violence around them. and the gun talk and the killings on national TV. what do you expect? Wouldnt it be nice if the headlines came out on Thursday. the Senate makes the first step. sensible gun legislation? Wouldnt that be good? That we came together and we did something that spoke to the anguish and pain? I was here for 9/11. a memory that none of us will ever forget. And the one thing that I will compare to what is happening with these families is the 9/11 families. The Congress felt compelled. after its own mourning and the loss in the Pentagon and the loss in Pennsylvania. we just felt compelled that we had to do something. that the pain of these families scattered all over America. we had to answer them. We obviously suffered. I remember standing on the steps singing God Bless America. But we put away any opposition to issues that had to be addressed. We put forward a Patriot Act at that time that was bipartisan. We worked in the Judiciary Committee. We handled the privacy issues. because we felt that this was a time for America to shine. Well. I believe this is the time for America to shine. Gun violence impacts society in countless ways: medical costs. in the cost of the criminal justice system. and security precautions such as metal detectors and reductions in quality of life because of fear of gun violence. These impacts are estimated to cost U.S. citizensMr. Speaker. youve got to get up out of your chair on this oneestimated to costwith a smile on my face. because you stand up and I need to sit down because its just knocking me downa hundred billion dollars. And that was 2000. And so its soaring in medical costs. in fear. in security. What are we going to do about the enormity of gun violence? Where there are more guns. there are more deaths. An estimated 41 percent of gunrelated homicides and 94 percent of gunrelated suicides would not have occurred in the same circumstances had no guns been present. Higher household gun ownership correlates with higher rates of homicides. suicides. and unintentional shootings. Mr. Speaker. we have within our power to be able to move forward on sensible gun legislation. I will be asking my colleagues to join me in a letter to send to my friends on the other side of this body to be able to listen to our voices as fellow legislators. And then. as well. Mr. Speaker. I hope the voices of America will ring. I know that my phone will ring for those who are saying. Theyre snatching our guns away. And Im going to have a smile on my face because they have a right to express themselves. But right now we need to put aside our individual political futures. because I believe that when you do the right thing. your future will be bright. And some child will say. Look at America. Look at the red. white. and blue. Look at the country that stands for values that we all are created equal. They didnt come to take away guns. They came to enforce good laws. They came to ensure that guns are not exploited. that loopholes are not walked through and become open caves. and that people are safer in their schools. their homes. their places of worship. Just think about that. A pulpit. Ministers in my State have been shot dead by guns of disturbed membersbecause they have guns. And lets make. Mr. Speaker. the mental health system a parallel effort to be able to ensure the safety of us all. Mr. Speaker. I am hopeful that this brief discussionand if I may. how much time is there remaining?