Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I have listened to the remarks of our distinguished colleague from Illinois who is the Democratic whip. I agree with a number of things he says and disagree with some others, but I do think we need to keep this in the appropriate context. We are, in fact, talking about a provision of the Bill of Rights, the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and I hope we would never treat any of those essential guarantees of American rights that precede the creation of our government casually. It is important that we protect all of our rights. The right to worship according to the dictates of our conscience, the right to petition our government for the redress of just grievances, the freedom of association, and the freedom of the press are also part of the Bill of Rights, just like the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

There are a number of things that we can agree on, and I have been talking about one of them for some time now--the so-called Fix NICS bill. It is probably not very well-labeled or branded because ``NICS'' is short for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Basically, what it does is fix the broken background check system to make sure that convicted felons, people who have been dishonorably discharged from the military, people who have been adjudicated mentally ill, people who have committed acts of domestic violence--and a number of other categories--cannot legally purchase firearms. Why? Because current law prohibits it.

We have already passed those laws, but as we saw in Sutherland Springs, TX, one Sunday morning not long ago, 26 people lost their lives and 20 additional lives were forever changed when they were shot by a gunman who had lied and obtained firearms when he was disqualified under the law from purchasing them.

The FBI maintains the background check system, and it wasn't their fault because the background check system is only as good as the information that is uploaded into the background check system. When somebody goes into a store and tries to purchase a firearm and lies, the background check system catches them and they are denied that purchase. That is how it is supposed to work.

Recently, the attitude among some here in Washington seems to be that this bill somehow doesn't go far enough. There are other ideas I am more than willing to debate and vote on, some of which I actually agree with, but none have the bipartisan consensus and support that this particular Fix NICS bill has.

I was just told that now we are up to 70 bipartisan cosponsors. In other words, 70 out of 100 Senators, on a bipartisan basis, support this fix to our broken background check system because they know that if it had been working the way Congress had intended, 26 people would still be alive in Sutherland Springs, TX, and 20 more who were shot and wounded would not have had to suffer those grievous injuries and the painful recovery.

For example, as the Democratic leader--as well as some others--has said: ``If we only pass Fix NICS, we'll be right back here after the next shooting, in nearly the same place.'' He said that ``we won't have done our job.''

Well, as I said, if there are other things that enjoy broad bipartisan consensus, let's get them done. But if the attitude is that we will not even vote on what we agree on because we want to do more, we will never get anything done around here. Why not vote on what we have agreed on, what people are supporting, and then, in addition, we can work on other ideas.

As I said, at least 36 Senate Democrats have already cosponsored the Fix NICS bill. That is 75 percent of the Democratic caucus, and the numbers have been steadily rising. I hope they will go even higher.

I am grateful to the Democratic leader from New York. He, himself, is a cosponsor of the bill, as is the Senate majority leader, Mr. McConnell. I have never seen a piece of legislation involving a controversial subject like gun rights get such broad bipartisan support. It is truly unique. We ought to be grateful we have found a place where we have such broad bipartisan agreement and, more important than that, a provision that will save lives in the future.

If the shooter at Sutherland Springs had gone into the gun store to purchase a gun and he lied, had the background check system worked as it was supposed to work, he would not have been able to legally purchase a gun because it would have revealed the fact that he was disqualified from doing so.

Each of these tragedies involves different circumstances. The shooters are always different. They obtain firearms in particular ways and use them to perpetrate their crimes according to different plans and in different settings.

I have already talked about the shooter in Sutherland Springs, who actually was convicted of a felony after choking and kicking his wife and cracking his stepson's skull. He was discharged dishonorably from the military. He was detained in a mental health facility because he was mentally ill. Yet he was able to lie his way into possession of these firearms, forever changing the world of innumerable families in Sutherland Springs, TX.

Under Federal law, he should have been prevented from purchasing these firearms. Were it not for the breakdown in our background check system, he wouldn't have obtained them. He would have been caught lying when trying to buy these firearms and possibly prosecuted, and 26 people would still be living their lives, and the people who were worshipping that Sunday morning at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs would still be doing so in that same location. It has now been turned into a memorial for those who lost their lives that day.

This is preventable loss of life. That is more than enough reason to pass Fix NICS. I disagree with those who say that it doesn't do much. If it saves lives, it does plenty. If our system had worked properly-- and ensuring it does in the future is what my bill aims to do-- Annabelle Pomeroy, the 14-year-old daughter of the pastor at First Baptist, would still be here, and Ryland Ward, a 6-year-old boy who survived, would not have been shot five times.

It is simply incorrect to characterize this bill as a pittance. It is inaccurate to suggest that it really wouldn't do anything, that it somehow is just window dressing or maybe a political fig leaf. That is demonstrably false. Tell that to the families who lost loved ones that day. They wish our background check system had stopped the gunman. Each of them suffered a terrible trauma because it didn't.

It is also not true to say that Washington has been feckless or absent in the wake of not only Sutherland Springs but Las Vegas, Parkland, and all the rest.

On the issue of bump stocks, I agree with the Democratic whip, the Senator from Illinois. These attachments to a semiautomatic rifle turned it into an automatic rifle. I have never heard of such a thing before, but if automatic weapons are already illegal, why in the world would we want to allow an appliance attached to a gun to turn a semiautomatic weapon into an automatic weapon? I am glad the President has said that those should be regulated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and be unavailable.

We know that a lot of people lost their lives in Las Vegas; 58 concertgoers in Las Vegas lost their lives because of a man in a hotel room, shooting down into a country music concert. There were 851 people injured. The scope of the carnage was unbelievable.

We have also learned that mental health problems are some of the reasons people do these sorts of things. We passed a law, most notably last December, called the 21st Century Cures Act, which provides new authority for families, when their loved ones are becoming a danger to themselves or others, to apply to a court to get assisted outpatient treatment to make sure they follow their doctors' orders and take their medications. Then we train law enforcement on how to save lives in the event of an active shooter incident.

We know the problem at Sutherland Springs was that the Federal Government hadn't uploaded the information into the background check system, which would have prevented the purchase of the firearm. But we know the problem is present, as well, in the States.

In Ohio, we learned that there have been failures to upload conviction records from at least 90 municipal courts--one that may have allowed those barred from owning weapons to purchase them in violation of the law.

Since the shooting in Texas, the Department of Defense has retroactively uploaded 4,000 additional records of those dishonorably discharged from the military into the background check system. Under current law, these are people already prohibited from purchasing firearms, but, of course, if the military didn't upload them, no one would ever know, and they would be able to lie and purchase firearms.

One news account stated that since 2015, the number of people barred from owning firearms because they were dishonorably discharged has hovered at around 11,000 people, according to FBI statistics. Now it stands at over 15,000. It is clear evidence that the background check system isn't working the way it is supposed to. We need to make sure that Federal agencies are uploading these records in real time, as they are required to do.

We are taking action in other ways. I am also cosponsor of a bipartisan bill called the NICS Denial Notification Act. It is sponsored by a bipartisan pair of Senators--the Senators from Pennsylvania and Delaware. This bill will alert State law enforcement about people who lie and try to buy guns. If people go in and lie, the background check system catches them, and then they are turned away. Under current practice, that is never reported to the law enforcement agencies, but it would be if that legislation were passed. When people do this, their actions may be indicative of criminal behavior. That is why the bill would insist that Federal authorities notify State police within 24 hours if it is determined a person has lied in an attempt to buy a gun.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General has announced that U.S. attorneys will be instructed to more aggressively enforce laws that criminalize gun buyers who lie on their background checks. I think all of this will help be a deterrent, and, yes, I do think it will contribute to the saving of lives.

The Justice Department will also increase the presence of law enforcement officers at schools and review the way they respond to public tip-offs with regard to safety threats.

We know the shooting in Parkland, FL, was a catastrophic failure at almost every level--from the public education system, to local law enforcement, to the FBI, to mental health providers. Looking back at this shooter, local law enforcement actually intervened with him about 40 times. This was a blinking red light. People should have paid attention and done something about it. We are now trying to make sure they have the resources and the training necessary to intervene when people are obviously a danger to themselves and others.

One way we are going to do that is with the bill offered by the senior Senator from Utah, Mr. Hatch--the STOP School Violence Act. This bill would authorize $50 million annually for safety improvements, including teacher training and training students on how to prevent violence and developing anonymous reporting systems for threats of school violence. It would give schools money for physical improvements, such as metal detectors or bulletproof windows or doors. This is a great step. It is not controversial, and we ought to get it done and get it done now.

As the President has said: ``We cannot merely take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference. We must actually make a difference.'' One way we can do that is by passing Fix NICS.

Just this afternoon, a diverse community of victims' rights groups, law enforcement officers, gun violence prevention groups, and prosecutors sent a letter to the minority and majority leaders, asking them for a vote on a clean version of Fix NICS before the upcoming Easter recess. They said it would ``improve key elements of the background system, particularly domestic violence criminal history and protective order records.'' That is really an important point because so much of the gun violence we see in America is in the context of domestic violence--people violating protective orders, people assaulting the person they are married to or living with. We need to focus on this and do something about it.

This group of victims' rights advocates, law enforcement officers, gun violence prevention groups, and prosecutors call the Fix NICS bill a bipartisan, bicameral, commonsense, and noncontroversial bill. So why can't we pass it? Why can't we do it today?

They made a point to note in their letter that the vote should be clean; in other words, not conditioned upon or attached to other controversial measures we can't pass. I think they are absolutely right. I hope all of us will listen to this good advice and get this done.

We tried to get an agreement a couple of weeks ago to take up the bill and vote on it. If we did it today, it would pass this afternoon, but there was an objection to doing so, saying, well, there are other things we need to do too. Perhaps that is true, but to condition what can pass--what does enjoy broad bipartisan support and what will save lives--on things that will not pass and that aren't achievable means we have a strategy of either everything or failure. That usually ends up with us going back home emptyhanded, having nothing to show for our efforts.

The people we represent deserve better. This institution should step up and listen to those who are calling upon us to do something, and doing something that will save lives, while respecting the rights of all Americans under the Constitution.

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Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

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Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

The PRESDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senator in the Chamber desiring to vote?

The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 67, nays 31, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 52 Leg.] YEAS---67 Alexander Barrasso Bennet Blunt Boozman Burr Capito Carper Cassidy Cochran Collins Coons Corker Cornyn Cotton Crapo Cruz Daines Donnelly Enzi Ernst Fischer Flake Gardner Graham Grassley Hassan Hatch Heitkamp Heller Hoeven Inhofe Isakson Johnson Jones Kaine Kennedy King Lankford Lee Manchin McCaskill McConnell Moran Murkowski Nelson Paul Perdue Peters Portman Risch Roberts Rounds Rubio Sasse Scott Shaheen Shelby Stabenow Sullivan Tester Thune Tillis Toomey Warner Wicker Young NAYS--31 Baldwin Blumenthal Booker Brown Cantwell Cardin Casey Cortez Masto Duckworth Durbin Feinstein Gillibrand Harris Hirono Klobuchar Leahy Markey Menendez Merkley Murphy Murray Reed Sanders Schatz Schumer Smith Udall Van Hollen Warren Whitehouse Wyden NOT VOTING--2 Heinrich McCain

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