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

Thank you very much. Im so glad the Speaker was responding on that hundred billion dollars. It probably got him out of his chair. I think were allowed to say those kinds of things on the floor. I will have a few more points that I do want to make. The number of a hundred billion dollars is certainly a lot. but I want to spend some time on this issue of gun trafficking and to speak about how gun trafficking can be something that we can find ways to come together. Gun trafficking is dastardly because in jurisdictions like Washington. D.C.. strong gun laws. New York. strong gun laws. the State of Connecticut. strong gun laws. and now Colorado. strong gun laws. And my heart goes out to them for the loss that they experienced with the shooting of their head of corrections in a terrible manner. being shot on his doorstep. Also. the district attorney and his wife that were so loved and the other district attorney that was so loved that was shot here in Texas. That comes out of criminals with guns that they should not have. And so forcing a review of our gun laws to stop gun trafficking and to pass legislation that stands in the gap and that speaks to straw purchasesusing someone elseand holding people very responsible for doing that is a smart way to go. The Mayors Against Illegal Guns have a very important point. and that is. when you pass the universal background check as a systematic way to stop felons. domestic abusers. and the seriously mentally ill. thats the answer to people that say it doesnt make a difference. Criminals and other prohibited purchasers can avoid background checks by buying firearms from unlicensed private sellers. Thats the back of the trunk. Thats the gun shows. Often at gun shows are anonymous online transactions. If my recollection is correct. the shooter at Aurora got his guns online. How tragic. And in the course of those shootings. we know that little ones lost their lives in that theater. What a terrible thing to come out for a joyous occasion. an exciting night. fiction but fun. and you lose your life and you never get home. I heard something today that I thought was important. Parents who sent their children to school that morning in Newtown were sending their children to schoolit was December 14with the expectation for celebrating holidays like Hanukkah and Christmas. They were looking forward to hugs and toys. They were looking forward to family dinners. They were looking forward to picking those children up at the end of the day. Mr. Speaker. they did not get a chance to do that. And so when you have background checks. certainly in the instance of Newtown. a different set of circumstances. both dealing with mental illness and the access to guns. But I tell you what it will do with background checks. It will lessen the horror of those involved in criminal activities. The private sale loophole undermines the background check system by allowing millions of buyers to avoid background checks simply by going to private sellers. Weve got to fix that. And weve got to hold the data. Weve got to make sure that our law enforcement can check a national data system so that those who would perpetrate violence cannot go from State to State. I know that I wanted to pass similar legislation on DNA data for child predators so that a person cannot go from State to State. Now we have the technology and we have the ability to protect rights. But if you are involved in criminal activity and youre in the database on guns. your rights are lessened because we have to save lives. The Internet has created a vast marketplace for guns. where millions of buyers and sellers can easily identify one another and conduct firearms transactions with no supervision whatsoever. Nearly 12 years ago. the U.S. Department of Justice estimated that there were 80 online auction sites and approximately 4.000 other sites of gun sales. No control whatsoever. The private sellers are literally involved inmaybe not to their own choosingthose guns getting out into the arena and being utilized by others to do harm. So this is a time when we dont need a filibuster. What we need is a debate on the pros and cons of sensible gun legislation and. finally. a vote that would move us to respond to the pain of so many Americans. Why shouldnt this be a Democratic and Republican effort? Once the Senate votes on something that has substance to it. why shouldnt our Speaker. Mr. BOEHNER. also put it on the floor and not block it? The reason is because there was regular order on the Senate side. It went through committee. But in the instance of Republicans. listen to a 2010 survey by Republican pollster Frank Luntz. who found that 82 percent of U.S. gun owners. including 74 percent of NRA members. support criminal background checks for all gun sales. What more do we want? What are we saying here? That we cant come together on a nonwatereddown gun background check? Let me speak to why I think thats so important. We have officers around here. This is like a little city. We have our Capitol Police. They wear the uniform. Theyre here to protect. Law enforcement officers all over Americaschool law enforcement officers. county and city. villages. departments of public safety. highway patrol. drug enforcement. ATF. FBI. men and women in the United States militaryare here to protect. My friends from the Texas Air National Guard. my friends from the National Guard. theyre here to protect. What happens when they lose their lives through some untoward violence thats not on a battlefield somewhere. but right here in their own hometown? What happens when an officer has fallen because someone who shouldnt have a gun illegally has a gun. and weve done nothing about it? Close the gun show loopholes. stop the gun trafficking. and. most of all. get us universal access to gun checks and background checks. Everybody should be required. I know that we cant see these clearly. but there is a whole load of guns. and it says handguns offered by a private seller in Tennessee. handguns licensed by a licensed dealernot checking anybody. though. You got the money. you can just show up. I remember walking into a gun show and seeing children walking around unaccompanied. I believe they should not be able to walk around at a gun show unaccompanied. Long guns being sold by a private seller in Columbus. Ohio. This is whats happening all over America. Probably right. as Im standing on the floor of the House. that is whats happening. Thats why I support Mayor Bloomberg and his commitment to this whole idea of sensible gun legislation. There are currently 18 million assault weapons in circulation. and I dont think most of them are in the hands of the United States military. I am just going to add these points and come to a close. Mr. Speaker. because this is what pushes the wrong direction. this parts us away from each other. We cant be friends. We cant talk about sensible legislation. And I hate to say it. I dont know how much carnage we have to see. I dont know how much we have to see. how many sirens we have to hear for those of us who live in urban areas. police cars running after ambulances because theres been someone thats been shot. What I would say to you is listen to the voice of a victim that I met just a couple of days ago. I just want to put this myth out. She was a teacher coming home late at night and somebody came up and said. get out of the car. She didnt know what to do. She didnt get out of the car. She bent down. and that person shot her in the legs. I asked the question. if she had a gun. does she think that she would be able to do better. She said. no. I was too scared. I wouldnt know what to do. My friends. dont fool yourself that having a gun is going to make it better for you. Weve got to lessen criminals having guns. weve got to have background checks. weve got to close the gun show loopholes and people selling guns out of the back of their trunks on a highway somewhere outside of a gun show. More guns dont lead to more murders. This is myth number one. A survey by researchers at the Harvard University School of Public Health found strong statistical support for the idea that even if you control for poverty levels. more people die from gun homicides in areas of higher rates of gun ownership. Youve got a gun. you may be in jeopardy. The Second Amendment prohibits strict gun control. We all know that that is not supported by the Supreme Court and that were not talking about taking guns away. Were talking about regulating guns. As many people have said. we regulate insurance. We ask you to have a registration and a drivers license for a carthat can be a deadly weaponand we have you register it. And we have you have. if you will. a license. Statelevel gun controls havent worked. Scholars Richard Florida and Charlotta Mellander recently studied StatetoState variations in gun homicides. They found that firearm deaths are significantly lower in States with stricter gun control legislation. Myth number four: we only need better enforcement of the law. we dont need new laws. We passed several laws. Yes. we need enforcement. but it is well known that you need to keep guns out of the hands of those who would do harm. and you need to have universal background checks in order to stop the criminals from getting guns. and you need to work on the mental health services so that those individuals cannot have guns. In some States they have that. Were not blanketing everyone. but in certain instances we need to be able to protect those individuals. protect their families from the crazed person. the violent abuser. the domestic abuser who goes and violates a restraining order and has a gunbecause they just bought the gun because theres no background check. And you cant check if they have a restraining order. Sensible gun regulation is prohibitively unpopular. Weve already heard of the large percentages from Republican pollster. Mr. Luntz. about the percentage of individualsRepublicans. all Americans. NRA memberswho believe in universal background checks. not arming parents and arming. if you will. the teachers who are there to have a pencil and a pen and a chart and to talk about reading. writing. and arithmetic. So I am humbled today to have the opportunity to speak to my colleagues. but I am humbled by the fact that we live in a democracy. There is something called a "filibuster". its a procedure thats usednot in this bodysimply weve got a bunch of Members on the floor that talk. talk. talk. one after another. But we dont have the procedure. the Senate does. As I indicated. initially three of our friends. and now 13. I would ask themand I would ask the minority leaderI would ask them not to engage. I would ask the other body to work with us. I would ask the other body to hear our cry. I would ask the other body to think of those who as we speak are being shot by a gun in America by someone who shouldnt have it. Im asking them to think of the little children from one end of America to the other who were shot with a gun. For us Washingtoniansand I say that because I am in Washington a lot of the time here in the United States Congressremember the sniper of a few years ago. the frightening atmosphere of a sniper. a young man and his father. guns they should not have had. killing innocent people along the highways and byways of this region. The sniper. Thats what my message is today. that we have no timeno timefor a filibuster. We may have time for prayers. We may have time for encouragement. We have time for common sense. We still have time for a vote that will pass. And we have time for the House to take up sensible gun legislation. We still have time to save the lives of little babies. We still have time to save an innocent woman who may be subject to domestic violence. We still have time. We still have time to stop the gangbanger. We still have time to stop the criminal that may have come into your house or come into a bank or accost you on the street. We still have time to keep the guns out of their hands. We still have time. Who is going to answer the cry to stop the filibuster and stop the foolishness? I ask my colleagues: If it is not us. then who? If it is not now. then when? In the memory of John F. Kennedy. President of the United States of America. in the memory of his brother. Bobby Kennedy. former Attorney General of the United States of America. Martin Luther King. in his memory. a man of peace and nonviolence. and President Ronald Reagan. who lived. if it is not in the common sense of those leaders of our Nation and the needs of the children and families across America. then whose voices will we heed? There is still time for commonsense legislation. and I might say that we should demand. stand up for a vote on this Thursday. I hope our voicesnot mine. but our voicesare heard. Mr. Speaker. I thank you for allowing this time to debate on the floor of the House. and I yield back the balance of my time.