Date: 2011-11-16
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am hoping that there will be no Member that will oppose a commonsense amendment that allows our law enforcement officers to be more protected. One might think. as I point to this picture of a nurse giving a young man an immunization shot and the young man squinting. that I would be more in tune with this legislation to have a law enforcement officer or a policeman dressed in their uniform. I put a child here because I wanted to emphasize the fact that. can we have any disagreement that if we put our law enforcement officers in jeopardy. many of them leave behind families. Or I might use as an example this young child is squinting in pain from immunization. That wont harm them. but a person recklessly having stolen maybe someones gun that comes with the national concealed law. the righttocarry law. may not have a squinting child but. rather. a dead child. Let me give you an example of the legislation or the amendment that I have in real time. A North Harris police officer in 2008 had a traffic stop. Before he went to this individual that he was stopping. he dutifully went to a dispatcher. a database to find out who this might be. Tragically. it was not soon enough because a gun was taken and he was shot dead. He leaves behind a wife and two children. albeit the fact that I have a child here. because Im simply trying to create a simple amendment to this bill that will protect our law enforcement. What does my amendment do? It ensures that a comprehensive database is created to provide a listing of individuals from each State who possess permits and licenses to carry concealed weapons. This amendment would also require that the concealedweapons database be available to law enforcement officers in all States 24 hours a day. Thank goodness. because of Federal funding. many of our law enforcement officers have their laptops. many of them even their iPads. and so this database is a simple process. It is interesting or it should be known that 36 States are especially adversely impacted by this bill because 36 States do not grant any reciprocity. Twentyseven States recognize concealedcarry permits from only select States. So a 24hour database. I believe. would do what Republicans and Democrats say they want to do: protect law enforcement officers. Failing to implement a national system that would allow law enforcement officials to check the status of individuals who are legally allowed to carry a concealed gun will result in a routine situation. such as a traffic stop. becoming a lifethreatening situation. If an officer discovered a gun during a routine traffic stop. the officer might quickly and accurately determine this guy is legal as to whether the driver or lady possesses a valid outofstate permit. Oh. yes. we can offer reciprocity. but does the officer on the street walk around and look at the car thats coming across the border of their State and a sign says. We have reciprocity. I am from such and such. Im okay. It is nearly an impossible task for the officer to verify the validity of 48 different carry permitsare we going to have a national carry permitin the middle of what could be a tense situation. Even if that person is legally carrying it based upon the permit from another State. according to the majoritys report on this bill. only 18 States maintain an electronic database of concealedcarry permits that are immediately accessible to other law enforcement agencies. Seven States cannot provide any realtime access to this basic information to outofstate agencies. and two States do not even maintain a database for their own purposes. This amendment gives our local law enforcement a plausible chance to verify whether outofstate concealedcarry permits are legitimate. Mr. Chairman. how much time do I have remaining? The Acting CHAIR. The gentlewoman has 1 minute remaining.