Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Will the Senator yield for a question?

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Mr. WYDEN. I thank my colleague, Senator Murphy. I thank him, Senator Booker, and Senator Blumenthal for what they have done today.

Here is the bottom line for me, Senator Murphy and colleagues. Mass shootings are now happening like clockwork in America: Thurston, Columbine, Blacksburg, Tucson, Newtown, Aurora, Charleston, Roseburg, and Orlando. Communities are being torn apart like clockwork by unspeakable gun violence. In this building we come together now for moments of silence honoring the victims of these shootings like clockwork, and, like clockwork, this Congress does nothing about it.

When I was home last month, I visited Umpqua Community College, just outside of Roseburg, which was the site of a horrendous shooting 8 months ago--one of the deadliest school shootings in our Nation's history. What I saw at Umpqua Community College, what I heard from those at the school and the families in the community is, I am sure, a lot like what my friend from Connecticut hears about how the suffering doesn't go away.

The 1-year anniversary of the shooting in Charleston, SC, is coming up soon. I am quite sure it is the same way for people in South Carolina. The trauma, the process of mourning, rebuilding, and then trying to find a way somehow, some way to move forward from the enveloping grief is a horrendous experience and a common experience now that so many of our communities share. The reality is the trauma doesn't just vanish into the vapor. The news cameras are eventually going to leave Orlando, just like they left Roseburg. The bullet holes in the nightclub will get patched up. The families and the friends of the victims will try to live their lives the best they can, but it is going to be such a difficult, difficult task for the LGBTQ community in Orlando. But the trauma--the trauma--isn't vanishing.

So there is no perfect solution, but trauma ought to be followed up in a very concrete way with some specific constructive steps that begin to lay out an answer. It just seems to me that in the Senate and the Congress, the idea of following up with more moments of silence, with more inaction, just isn't enough. There are common steps, practical steps the Congress can take now.

Those who have argued that the only possible response to the shooting in Orlando can come in a war zone thousands of miles away are looking for excuses not to do something--not to do something meaningful here at home. There are steps that can be taken now to curb this violence. It won't stop every crime--a number of the ideas have been discussed before--but the victims of the shootings are owed a response.

First, I know my colleagues have mentioned this already this afternoon, but Senator Feinstein has put forward a proposal to close the dangerous terrorist gun loophole. I thought that was a sensible step--common sense. People shouldn't look at that as a partisan issue. Americans want to know why anyone would vote to allow individuals suspected of terrorist ties and motivations to purchase regulated firearms.

Next, close the loopholes. Close the loopholes in the background check. It is way past time to do that and to stop allowing the purchase of a gun online or at a gun show without a background check. Certainly, the background checks themselves have to be substantially improved. There are holes that ought to be plugged, including those that keep guns in the hands of somebody who has been a convicted domestic abuser. I am not talking about being charged or something that is speculative. We are talking about a convicted domestic abuser.

Once and for all the Congress ought to close the pipeline for illegal guns, straw purchases, and gun trafficking. These ought to be Federal crimes.

The Senator from Connecticut and I have also been strong advocates of beefing up the research into gun violence. There has been a prohibition on doing that. Say that one to yourself--a prohibition on doing research into gun violence. It just defies common sense. It makes no sense at all to block the Centers for Disease Control from gathering information that can help our communities and our families be safe.

I am just going to wrap up by getting personal for a moment. My late brother suffered from serious mental illness. Senator Murphy, not a day went by--not a day went by--when I wasn't worried that my brother, who was a schizophrenic, would be out on the streets and would either hurt himself or would hurt somebody else. That was the case with my family. It is time to establish once and for all a system through which individuals who are found to be a potential threat to themselves or others can get the treatment they need. I see my colleague from Michigan here. She has championed this effort year after year after year.

I am not going to recap the proposals. Some of them have been discussed at length here on the floor. But a majority of Americans finds these kinds of commonsense gun safety measures not to be ones that infringe on the rights of responsible gun owners or violate the Second Amendment or even come close to it. A majority of gun owners think these proposals make sense.

So this is what I would like to ask my colleague from Connecticut, in terms of an update, because my colleague from Connecticut has been a leader in this effort. Senator Feinstein's proposal, of course, is designed to prevent those on the watch list from buying guns. Numbers have been thrown around repeatedly about the number of people this would actually impact. I know the General Accounting Office has looked into this. Can the Senator tell me how many people on this watch list have been able to buy a gun?

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Mr. WYDEN. I thank my colleague, and I will just wrap up by way of saying that it seems to me that what has been learned here is that while the investigation goes on, there may have been a terrorist attack, there may have been a hate-inspired attack. My question is this: Aren't the steps I have outlined here today commonsense, practical steps, whether it is a hate-inspired attack? We have seen the human toll that discrimination takes against those who are targeted on the basis of hate. We have seen what it means to families who have been struck by terror. But aren't the steps that have been outlined here by you and colleagues on the floor--Senator Casey, with his very valuable proposal--commonsense legislative efforts that make sense whether this has been primarily a terror attack or a hate-inspired attack?

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Mr. WYDEN. I see colleagues waiting, and I thank the Senator.

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