Gun Safety

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Now, Madam President, after the deadly shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, the American people are wondering if Congress can do something meaningful to curb the epidemic of gun violence--an epidemic that has gone on far too long and taken the lives of far too many.

For years, Democrats have proposed commonsense gun safety policies to ensure that dangerous people can't get their hands on dangerous weapons. Recently, Democrats have reiterated our support for several specific measures, including universal background checks, protection orders, and a debate on banning assault weapons.

Americans of all political stripes support a debate on these policies, and yet the majority leader, who has given gun safety no time on the floor of the Senate, has also given us no indication we might consider the issue anytime soon. He is sweeping it under the rug. The NRA is powerful around here.

At the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, President Trump failed to show the conviction and steady leadership required to make progress on this issue. After indicating support for a host of reasonable gun safety measures a few weeks ago and in front of the TV cameras he invited in, yesterday President Trump released a list of administration policies which represent a 180-degree reversal. What President Trump said at the public meeting and what he proposed yesterday are opposites.

After signaling, for instance, he would be for raising the age of purchase of assault weapons from 18 to 21--a modest measure--President Trump backed off saying he would leave it to the States and the courts to decide. That is a copout, and we know that. After indicating support for universal background checks, President Trump makes no mention of closing the dangerous gun show loophole or internet sales loophole. There is no mention of anti-domestic violence legislation, no mention of assault weapons or support for significant changes to protection orders. The President's plan consists only of small-bore, NRA-approved policies, including the absurd proposal to send more guns into classrooms by arming teachers.

In the wake of so many American tragedies, the Trump proposal on gun safety is utterly insufficient as a response. Even if you discarded the idea of arming teachers and took the Fix NICS proposal and the changes to mental health in President Trump's proposal, that wouldn't be close to enough to address the issue of gun violence. The Nation is clamoring for significant, meaningful progress on gun safety, but President Trump's proposal is just a baby step, when America needs to take a giant leap.

The administration's proposal makes it perfectly clear that President Trump has an obeisance to the NRA. Even when President Trump momentarily departs the NRA script, he quickly gets reeled back in. If President Trump, his staff, and some of our Republican friends are wondering why his ratings are so low, it is because he does this all the time. At the meeting, he publicly challenged conservative Republican Senator Toomey. He said: Oh, I guess you are afraid of the NRA.

Well, Toomey is not afraid of the NRA. He has taken them on. It is President Trump who is afraid of the NRA. He is afraid to do anything that doesn't meet their approval. We all know what this Fix NICS bill is about. It is tiny, but it is OK with the NRA, so my good friend from Texas is happy to come to the floor and talk about it. When is he going to come to the floor and say something we really need that the NRA doesn't support? We are all waiting, not just for him but for our Republican colleagues. We all know the game going on here--make it seem like you want to do something but don't offend the NRA, which is way to the extreme when you look at where Americans are at on this issue.

After watching the same sequence of events take place on guns, on immigration, no one should be surprised when President Trump initially talks about bipartisanship but ends up caving to hard-right special interests. No one should be surprised that the Republican leadership in the Senate, when it comes to guns, does the same exact thing. In this case, the gun lobby is the hard-right special interest.

President Trump's behavior on the most sensitive political issues is turning into a predictable Kabuki theater, where he invites the cameras in, talks the good talk but then refuses to walk the walk. It shows great weakness in this President, and if he doesn't have the guts to move forward, he shouldn't invite the cameras in and act like he does. Now, that may give him a temporary little high, but it is not what the American people want. It is not leadership and, in my judgment at least, that is why the President is down so much in the polls no matter what he does. That is why even a race in the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania, in a district he won by 20 points, is a nail-biter.

I hope the President will change, I hope he will become a leader, and I hope he will stop just focusing on the show but actually get things done. So far, the American people, not just us, are disappointed.

Now, Democrats in the Senate are going to keep fighting to go much further than the President's proposal. We are going to fight to pass universal background checks, to actually get Federal legislation on protection orders, and to start debating banning assault weapons. This is the conversation the country needs to have. We will keep pushing our Senate colleagues and President Trump to do something real, not just something they think they can talk about that the NRA rubberstamps approval of.

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