Cicilline to GOP Leaders: Stop Genuflecting Before the NRA

WASHINGTON – U.S. Congressman David N. Cicilline offered pointed remarks on the House floor this afternoon as he called for action on gun violence prevention and pledged to continue speaking on the floor each week until significant legislation is passed by the House.

“Earlier this year, I introduced a package of three bills to get to the core of our country’s problem with gun violence by focusing on keeping guns from children, criminals and those who are severely mentally ill such that possession of a firearm would pose a threat to themselves or others,” Cicilline said during his remarks. “And yet, we are going to sit on our hands because Republican leaders would rather genuflect before the National Rifle Association than do anything that could help save the lives of thousands of Americans.”

Click to watch Cicilline’s remarks on the House floor.

The full text of Cicilline’s remarks, as delivered, is embedded below:

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Last Thursday, on the campus of Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, nine innocent men and women lost their lives. They were killed, as so many have been this year in communities across our country, because a person with evil in their heart was able to get his hands on a gun.

This horrific event was the 294th mass shooting that we have seen in 2015 – more than any other country in the world.

So far this year, we have mourned nine parishioners who were killed during Bible study at their church in Charleston, South Carolina; two women who were killed, and nine others who were injured, at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana; and a local television reporter and her cameraman who died covering a story outside Lynchburg, Virginia.

But there are thousands of other victims of gun violence. Their deaths have garnered less media attention, but they too deserve to have their stories told.

In the United States this year, more than 10,000 people have died, and more than 20,000 have been injured, during an incident that involved a gun. Each day, an average of 92 Americans are killed in an incident involving a gun.

Yesterday, the victims included the supervisor of a food market in Houston, who was killed by a disgruntled employee; a 21-year old father of two in Louisville; and a 23-year old man and 18-year old woman who were killed outside New Orleans during a drive-by shooting. Altogether, nearly 1.5 million Americans have lost their lives to gun violence since the year 1970.

Mr. Speaker, I have no doubt that every one of my colleagues in this chamber has spent much of the last few days thinking about and praying for the victims in Oregon and their families. I know I have.

But to put it bluntly, our thoughts and prayers aren’t good enough. Not for those who have already been killed, and not for the 92 Americans who are going to lose their lives today, tomorrow, and every day until we do something.

Thoughts and prayers won’t bring back the innocent men, women, and children who have been killed or heal the families that have been torn apart. Thoughts and prayers are no excuse for inaction and cowardice in the face of powerful special interests.

It’s on all of us to do better than thoughts and prayers. It’s long past time to take actions to reduce the threat of gun violence and to do all we can to protect our constituents from the ravages of this epidemic.

Earlier this year, I introduced a package of three bills to get to the core of our country’s problem with gun violence by focusing on keeping guns from children, criminals and those who are severely mentally ill such that possession of a firearm would pose a threat to themselves or others.

The End Purchase of Firearms by Dangerous Individuals Act, H.R. 2917, requires that states provide information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System on individuals who are committed to a mental institution or who make a threat of violence to a mental health professional that demonstrates that this individual would present a danger to himself or others if armed with a gun.

The Fire Sale Loophole Closing Act, H.R. 2916, ends the practice by which federally licensed gun dealers who lose their licenses for misconduct can convert their entire inventory to a “personal collection” in order to liquidate it without conducting background checks on their customers. Under the law, such dealers could transfer their inventory only to other properly licensed federal gun dealers.

I also introduced a resolution, H. Con. Res. 59 to support the goals of National ASK Day, which falls on June 21st each year. National ASK Day encourages parents to ask other parents whether their children are playing in a house with an unlocked gun. In the United States, 1.7 million children are in homes with loaded, unlocked guns. This initiative is supported by Head Start, the American Public Health Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

In addition to these measures that I have introduced, I am also a co-sponsor of the Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act to ban the sale of large capacity magazines, and the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act to prohibit individuals suspected of ties to terrorist organizations from purchasing a gun, and H.R. 2380 and H.R. 3411 which fix our broken background check system.

Any of these bills would immediately improve public safety in this country – a country that sees its citizens die at the end of a loaded gun 297 times more than in Japan, 49 times more than in France, and 33 times more than in Israel. Any one of these rational, commonsense proposals would immediately make life safer for men, women, and children in cities and towns across America.

And yet, we are going to sit on our hands because Republican leaders would rather genuflect before the National Rifle Association than do anything that could help save the lives of thousands of Americans.

The last time this institution passed a major bill to prevent gun violence was November 10, 1993, when the House approved the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act and President Clinton signed it into law.

Mr. Speaker, I’ll end by saying I do not know what it will take for us to finally take action, but I do know what I will do: I will continue speaking out every week on the floor of this chamber until we get something done that makes our communities safer and honors the lives all the victims who have lost their lives in this country to gun violence.