Separation of Powers Restoration Act of 2016

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. KEATING. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. KEATING. I am in its current form.

My amendment doesn't delay or send back the underlying bill. It does, however, deny firearms transfers to international domestic terror suspects.

Mr. Speaker, before I came to this Congress I was a prosecutor. I was a district attorney. And under Massachusetts law, I was individually responsible for investigating every death in my district for foul play.

Many times, I was at a violent crime scene where families had lost a son or a daughter, a brother or a sister, a mother or a father. Every time, I would meet with these families after these terrible tragedies, if not at the crime scene, then at the hospital, or at their home, or in my office.

And what was the first thing I told them after telling them how sorry I was for this tragedy?

I think every single person in this Chamber knows what I told them because I sincerely believe that every Member in this Chamber would say the same thing if they were in that position. I have come to know you, I have come to learn about you, and I sincerely believe that you would ask this very same question. That question is, if there is anything, anything at all that I can do for you, please let me know.

There are few, if any, more helpless feelings I have ever felt in my life than during those moments. Never did I want to do so much, yet felt powerless to do so little.

Even years after a conviction, during the appeals process, the family members would talk when we would meet as if it were yesterday. They would talk about things like how they still kept a jersey or some jeans in a drawer at home because they didn't want to let go of the memory of a son who would never wear those clothes again.

Whether it was their faith in God or being strong for their family, they somehow went on. I never have witnessed courage quite like theirs.

Invariably, there was one thing that they did ask me, every single family that I can remember, they said: Please do everything you can so that another family doesn't go through what we are going through.

My team did everything we could so that those criminals we prosecuted did not do what they did to another person again.

And isn't that what we are being asked to do in this Congress?

We all realize that there is no single way to prevent every gun death, but we can reduce them.

Some of the hardest cases I witnessed were motor vehicle homicide cases, lives snatched away in an instant. Yet, decades ago, Congress worked together to reduce the number of deaths on the road. They worked together for safer roads, safer cars with air bags and infant seats.

In 1972, over 54,000 people were killed on the road in this country. Yet, 4 decades later, that number went down by 40 percent, all the while Americans driving more miles than they ever had any time before.

The very same thing can be achieved with universal background checks, limiting the sales of assault weapons, restricting access of deadly weapons to those on the terror watch list.

So families are asking us, because we are the only ones they have to ask, to do everything that you can so that another family doesn't go through what they went through.

We can keep guns out of the hands of terrorists, and we will. Ninety percent of the public supports these actions. We will protect these families, and we will save lives. We are the only ones that are there to prosecute this case, and I respectfully--and I mean respectfully-- call for your help. It can't come soon enough.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. KEATING. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source