Department of Defense Appropriations Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, as I was coming to work today, I drove past St. Peter's grade school which is on the House side of the Hill, and there was a group of students--little kids--who were being escorted by their teacher down the sidewalk. As they walked along I couldn't help but flash back to that image all America remembers from last Friday--the children at the Sandy Hook school in Newtown, CT, filing out, heading for safety at the firehouse.
I don't know that I can look at the faces of these children as their names have been reported and not think of my own kids when they were that age, and especially of my own grandchildren now, who are just a little over a year old. But I saw in the eyes of those children what all of us see: innocence, happiness, an interest in the future, and the greatest dreams in the world.
Well, in one brutal, depraved moment, those dreams ended when that gunman forced his way into Sandy Hook school and shot those poor innocent children. At that moment, some people stepped forward who really became heroes of the day: Four teachers, including Rachel Davino, Anne Marie Murphy, Lauren Rousseau, and Victoria Soto, and the school psychologist, Mary Sherlach, and Dawn Hochsprung, the beloved school principal who apparently walked right into the face of this gunman to try to stop him from harming any of the children in the school. These school employees lost their lives because they were trying to stop the gunman or shield their students from him.
We would like to think all of us called into a moment such as that would rise to the standard of courage they showed. I hope we would. They did, and in so doing reminded us that even those who just go to work every single day can be called on to show bravery. These teachers did, the school psychologist and the principal, and we owe them a great debt of gratitude, as I am sure the families of all of the students in the school feel.
We pray for all the children were lost on Friday, for the six school employees, and for all their families and loved ones. We also pray for the first victim that morning, the shooter's own mother, Nancy Lanza. And we thank the first responders who responded so bravely in the face of such horror.
We reflect now on our responsibility. I thought about it over the weekend, and I wrote an article for the Chicago Tribune this morning and here is what it said:
What will it take? What will it take for a majority of Americans to speak out for sensible firearms policy in our nation? It will take more than a Congresswoman being shot point-blank in the face as she gathers for a town meeting in Arizona. It will take more than a deranged gunman with a 100-round magazine spraying bullets into a crowded movie theater in Aurora, CO. It will take more than the kids who die playing with guns carelessly stored. It will take more than killings on the university campuses in my home State of Illinois and in Texas and Alabama and Virginia; and it will take more than the shootings on the streets of Chicago, my hometown of East St. Louis, and so many other cities across the country. Sadly, it will take more than 27 victims, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook grade school.
What it will take is for a majority of Americans and a majority of thoughtful gun owners and hunters to agree that there must be reasonable limits on gun ownership and weapons. The U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged that our second amendment rights are not absolute. So can we come together and agree that Americans have the right to own and use firearms for sport and self-defense, but with certain limits?
We must institute reasonable, commonsense limits, such as barring those with a history of mental instability, those with a history of violent crime or who are adjudged dangerous and subject to restraining orders, and those whose names have already been placed on a terrorist watch list from owning guns. Those ``straw purchasers'' who are literally fencing for drug gangs and other criminal thugs, and the gun dealers who look the other way when they come to buy those weapons? We have to deal with them realistically and firmly.
There are certain classes of weapons that are strictly military. They have no useful purpose in sport, hunting, or self-defense. They should not be legally sold in America. The gun used at Sandy Hook grade school in Newtown, CT, was just such a gun, an AR-15, originally an M-16, developed for military purposes. Then, with clips attached that held countless numbers of bullets, he turned it on those little babies, these infants, and killed them with that assault weapon. Magazine clips with more than 10 rounds should be prohibited from civilian use.
No one should be allowed to purchase more than two firearms--maybe only one firearm per month. And those who own firearms that are within the reach of children should have protective locks on their weapons.
What holds us back are political organizations that are well-funded and organized and determined to resist even the most reasonable limitations. There is a close political parallel between the gridlock in Washington on dealing with our economy and national debt and the eerie silence in Congress as the list of horrific gun crimes grows by the day.
I am encouraged by several of my colleagues who have spoken out today. Traditionally they have been on the side of those who have opposed any type of limitation on firearms, but they believe, after Newtown, CT, we have to reopen that conversation in a good-faith effort to find common ground.
But too many of my colleagues just shrug their shoulders when gun issues come to the floor for a vote. They have made Grover Norquest-like pledges and feel dutybound to vote ``right'' on every scorecard issue.
My wife and I grew up in families of hunters. We know the rite of passage when a father can take his son or daughter out hunting for the first time. I know the fun of watching the Sun come up from a duck blind and hearing a seasoned hunter calling them in over the water. The hunters I know are good people who love their sport and hate those who misuse firearms, terrorize, and kill. We need for these hunters to join with many Americans, some of whom have never owned a gun or used a gun, to establish a reasonable standard for gun use and ownership in this great Nation.
I was thinking over the weekend how much we have focused on texting and driving, and I looked up the numbers. Last year it is estimated that 6,000 Americans died because they foolishly were texting while they were driving. We now have a national campaign to stop texting and driving, and we should: 6,000 American lives lost. Last year we lost 30,000 American lives to gun deaths, to put it in perspective. It is time for us to view safety and ownership of guns as seriously as we do when it comes to the safety of operation of automobiles. Until we do--until we come together as a Nation and come forward with reasonable limits on guns that can be sold, magazines and cartridges that can be sold, even the body armor which I can't even understand the purpose for in this country--until we do that, the number of victims of gun tragedies will continue to grow and the silence of the funerals that follow will be matched by the silence of those in Congress who have the power to change it.
It is time for us to step forward in memory of these poor children in Newtown, CT, their grieving families, these heroic teachers, and so many others who reminded us last Friday that we are all part of the same American family.
Madam President, I yield the floor.
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