Durbin Delivers Opening Statement During Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing On Gun Conversion Devices That Are Amplifying The Gun Violence Epidemic

Floor Speech

“This is our 14th gun violence prevention hearing in the last four years. Why? Because every Monday morning, I wake up to the news of how many people have been shot and killed over the weekend, not just in Chicago, but around the United States.

“And those who believe the gun violence is only a product of blue states and blue cities are just plain wrong. Gun violence is across this nation and every political environment that you can imagine. We should view it as an American problem, not as a political problem for a particular party.

“I hope to work with the new incoming Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley. He and I have literally been friends for 30 years, and that friendship is going to continue.

“We proved something that our critics didn't think was possible. We came up with a sentencing reform bill known as the First Step Act, that was passed and signed into law by President Trump. [It was] a bipartisan measure which has been viewed as one of the singular reform measures when it comes to criminal sentencing. I hope we can follow that same model on a bipartisan basis in the new Congress.

“We are examining the spread of deadly conversion devices that are increasing the lethality of the gun violence epidemic in America.

“On October 1, 2017, a gunman opened fire on a crowd of concert goers in Las Vegas, killing 58, wounding over 400, traumatizing thousands. The extent of the carnage was made possible by a conversion device known as a bump stock. After the Las Vegas shooting, Republicans and Democrats agreed that we needed to act swiftly to restrict access to bump stocks.

“Then-President Donald Trump directed the Department of Justice to issue a rule banning bump stocks. He said, ‘We will ban all devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns.’

“But earlier this year, the Supreme Court struck down the Trump Administration’s regulation in a 6 to 3 decision.

“The Republican-appointed justices concluded—wrongly in my view—that the Trump Administration could not define bump stocks as machine guns under the National Firearms Act.

“Congress should respond to this Court’s decision by passing legislation making clear that the National Firearms Act covers bump stocks. But Senate Republicans have objected to the legislation, such as the BUMP Act, that would ban the sale or possession of these deadly devices.

“ATF agents recovered over 5,400 guns with conversion devices at crime scenes between 2017 and 2021, a 570 percent increase from the previous five-year period.

“This disturbing trend has not slowed in recent years. Last month, for example, four people were killed and 17 injured in a mass shooting outside a nightclub in Birmingham, Alabama, by an individual using a gun with a Glock switch.

“We cannot allow this to continue. I’ve said this many times before. But I don’t know how else to say it... We have the tools to address the gun violence crisis in America, and this is one of them. We must act.

“Gun manufacturers can and should do more to ensure that their products cannot be easily converted into illegal machine guns. If manufacturers fail to act, Congress should take up legislation to hold these companies liable for the foreseeable consequences of their actions.

“And I agree with Senator Grassley that federal agencies must increase their efforts to prevent illegal Glock switches from being smuggled into the United States by foreign companies. I stand ready to work with my colleagues.”

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