Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, we ought to be aggrieved, we ought to be angry, and we ought to be furious--not just frustrated but furious-- at this sad, even pathetic, objection to moving forward with a bill that is supported by 95 percent of the American people. The simple fact is that our Senate colleagues have been talking to us in good faith, not only about a background checks bill but also about emergency risk protection orders, because we know there is no single solution, no panacea, and that emergency risk protection orders are the other side of the coin to background checks.

Last week, the Washington Post reported that President Trump has given up on passing lifesaving gun violence legislation. The reason is fierce lobby by the NRA.

Let's face the stark truth here. The objection on the floor today is not the result of any lack of clarity about the need for background check legislation. It is the result, purely and simply, of the President saying no.

We need to do our job. We have continued talks, in fact, with members of the White House staff after the impeachment proceedings began. My hope is that the Washington Post article is untrue. I believe it, certainly, in no way forestalls or prevents these discussions from continuing. I think there is a reason to hope, but it will take courage and strength to do it.

The President said yesterday that he was too busy doing his job meeting with the President of Turkey--an individual who has potentially enabled war crimes in northern Syria. If he wasn't too busy to do that kind of meeting, he shouldn't be too busy to do gun violence prevention.

The fact is that the stakes are simply too high for there to be delay, and 36,000 Americans are killed every year, or more. That is 100 every day. Gun deaths are, in fact, rising, not declining.

The trends are absolutely alarming and appalling, and we are complicit in these deaths if we fail to act. As I speak on the floor right now, there is a school shooting in Santa Clarita, CA. How can we turn the other way? How can we refuse to see that shooting in realtime, demanding our attention, requiring our action? We are complicit if we fail to act. It is not just a political responsibility. It is a moral imperative. The unconscionable loss of life is our responsibility.

This problem is one that we can solve. We may not be able to prevent all the deaths that occur--all 100 every day in America--but we can save lives. Our goal has to be to save as many lives as quickly as possible.

I have been hopeful for the first time in a long time, as I have talked with my colleague Senator Graham. He and I have worked together conscientiously and closely on ``extreme risk protection order'' legislation. There have been a series of encouraging conversations with the White House, and all seemed to be proceeding well, until there was a report of the President talking to Wayne LaPierre of the NRA. Apparently, it takes only a phone call--or a couple of them--with the NRA to turn around the White House and stop the progress we have been making and throw out the window all the good work we have done.

Over these past several months, Senator Graham, the White House, and my office have made important strides on emergency risk protection. We know that they work. They enjoy broad popular support. At least 70 percent of the American people support some type of ``extreme risk protection'' legislation, including two-thirds of Republicans and 60 percent of gun owners.

States like Connecticut, which was the first to adopt them, have shown they have a palpable, tangible, measurable effect. They are a crucial tool for law enforcement. The full implementation of Connecticut's ``emergency risk protection order'' law was associated with a mere 14-percent decline in firearm suicide rates, and the passages of Indiana's law in 2005 is associated with a 7.5-percent decline in the firearm suicide rate.

We know these laws work. In the 17 jurisdictions that have passed them, there has been a decline in suicides and homicides and domestic violence shootings. We can save lives. We can put together a measure that combines background checks, emergency risk protection orders, and other sensible steps. We can work through this body. The objection that we are bringing it to the floor precipitously is absolutely ridiculous. There is no reason we have to give up now and throw away all our work simply because the House is doing something unrelated, on impeachment.

There has been too much good work as well by groups doing the grassroots task of mobilizing public support--Moms Demand Action, Students Demand Action, and all of the groups that have rallied around for gun safety. In Connecticut, the Newtown Action Alliance, Connecticut Against Gun Violence, and Sandy Hook Promise show us the way.

In the last election, gun violence was on the ballot. Gun violence prevention won. That is the reason the House has passed H.R. 8. That is the reason why we should do it here. History will judge my Republican colleagues harshly if they fail that, and the voters will judge them even more immediately equally harshly.

The NRA is imploding. Its vice-like grip should be crumbling in this body. They may have the ear of the President, but they should not have the ear of my Republican colleagues.

To the President, I say: The NRA is telling the American public they own you and that all they have to do is snap their fingers, and you fall into line. Prove them wrong. All you need to do is take the final steps on this legislation. Give us a green light. Tell us that we can move forward and that you will sign this bill.

To the majority leader I say, whether or not the President gives us that green light, we need to do our job. Please do your job. Let us have this vote.

Thank you.

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