The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“WE NEED MEANINGFUL GUN LEGISLATION” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H4198-H4199 on July 5, 2016.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
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WE NEED MEANINGFUL GUN LEGISLATION
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett) for 5 minutes.
Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, when this House last convened, a number of us were willing to sit in, in order to stand up--to stand up to the gun lobby, to stand up against gun violence. During our protest, House Republicans fled Washington, rather than face accountability on gun safety, leaving behind significant unfinished business.
During the past week, many of us across the country have joined neighbors in a national day of action against gun violence. I joined over 100 people in San Antonio, gathering with Patricia Castillo with the P.E.A.C.E. Initiative, Jamie Ford with Moms Demand Action, and State Senator Jose Menendez.
On a hot afternoon in Austin, Texas, more than 100 of us also gathered with Mayor Steve Adler, Andrea Brauer from Texas Gun Sense, members of the Austin City Council, State Representative Donna Howard, and other elected officials, all asking this Congress to respond to the horrific wave of gun carnage that threatens the security of our families. Each of these gatherings included powerful testimony from family tragedies and losses as a result of guns.
After the mass murders in Orlando and San Bernardino, carried out by individuals professing a twisted version of Islam, the most obvious next step is to question why, if someone is too dangerous to get on an airplane with you, they ought to be able to buy as many assault weapons as they would like? And ask why, in Orlando, the law enforcement officials did not hear about assault weapon purchases of one person who had been on the terrorist watch list? One of the three modest bills about which we were sitting-in would institute a no-fly, no-buy restriction.
The day after our protest, to their credit, four of our Republican colleagues here in the House, for the first time, introduced a version of a proposal to prohibit such gun purchases, but also to provide a means by which someone could get off the no-fly list if they were on it improperly.
This proposal copies verbatim one proposal that has been offered by Republican Senator Susan Collins. Hers is the only proposal pending in the United States Senate today that has not already been rejected. I think it is time for us to come together to unite behind this proposal. It is a modest step forward, but it is a step forward to address gun violence.
Instead, we are told today that Speaker Ryan is, apparently, committed to blocking this bipartisan initiative and anything else that doesn't have a seal of approval from the National Rifle Association. Apparently, the only provision on which we will be allowed to vote here in this House is a proposal that the Senate has already rejected.
This isn't action. It is theatrics. It is the appearance of the response to the concern of so many Americans for action on gun safety, without changing anything.
Under this gun lobby proposal, in order to prevent a gun purchase, the Justice Department would be required to obtain a court order within 72 hours to prove probable cause that a person has ``committed, conspired to commit, attempted to commit, or will commit an act of terrorism.'' Well, if our law enforcement can do that, they should not only be preventing a person from acquiring a gun, they ought to be taking them to prison.
So much attention has focused on the sit-in on this floor, not enough has focused on the ``sit-on.'' I am talking about the Speaker, who sits on any legislation concerning gun violence, including that advanced by fellow Republicans, if it does not have approval of the gun lobby.
We just celebrated Independence Day. How about the Republicans declaring independence from the gun lobby? Just once, in a very small, modest way declaring independence on a proposal that Republicans themselves have advanced--a few of them--to address more security for our families.
The Republican leadership has tried so very desperately to avoid accountability on gun safety. They cut off these microphones. They fled the House in the middle of the night. Now they are cloaking themselves in an NRA-approved bill already rejected by the United States Senate that won't keep weapons of war out of the hands of terrorists.
Everyone who owns a gun knows that sometimes you need to keep the safety on that gun. I think it is time to put the safety back in gun safety legislation. It is time to engage in meaningful, real reform.
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