This morning, during a hearing in the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations, Congressman Ted Deutch (FL-22) demanded that the Subcommittee hold hearings on gun violence in light of the tragic mass shooting in Las Vegas.
Congressman Deutch's video can be viewed by clicking the image, and a transcript of his remarks are below.
Congressman Deutch's video can be viewed by clicking the image, and a transcript of his remarks are below.
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Congressman Ted Deutch: "Mister Chairman,
"This is a really important topic, and I appreciate the hearing today. I’ve been working on sex trafficking and human trafficking issues with my colleagues Representatives Smith and Trott and Frankel in the Foreign Affairs [committee] and others. But what makes this so important is that it is a bipartisan issue.
"But I can’t engage in a conversation about this bipartisan issue in the absence of any sort of conversation on a bipartisan issue that we need to be having about gun violence.
"Mister Chairman, we all were sickened when close to 60 people were slaughtered in Las Vegas and more than ten times as many were injured.
"This is the Crime Subcommittee. This is not just the Crime Subcommittee, this is the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. This is the place where these discussions should start. Reasonable Discussions. The kind of discussion that we are having today about sex trafficking.
"But, unfortunately, not only have we not scheduled any hearings, we took an affirmative step – not the Ranking Member and I – but the Chairman took the affirmative step of actually waving the jurisdiction of this subcommittee with respect to a piece of legislation that would only make things worse.
"So I ask the question: What is it about the dangerous gun agenda that the leadership continues to push forward that prevents us from being able to have a serious discussion about how to curb gun violence?
"Let me just be clear: the bill that this subcommittee waived jurisdiction on - the Crime Subcommittee - is H.R 3668. That’s a bill that does at least three things.
"It’s the 'Silencer Deregulation Act,' which deregulates silencers and makes it easier to sell silencers across state lines to more people and without background checks. Anyone who watched the horrific video out of Las Vegas could only imagine what the case would have been if every one of those guns that that shooter had had a silencer on it.
"But that’s not all that this committee chose not even to hold a hearing on.
"The bill also contains the 'Armor Piercing Bullets Deregulation Act,' legislation that would make it easier to manufacture, import, and sell armor-piercing bullets that can be used in a handgun. Armor piercing bullets that at another time we regularly referred to as cop killers.
"And finally, a piece of legislation that this Crime Subcommittee chose to waive jurisdiction on was what I would refer to as the 'Easy Gun Trafficking Act,' which makes it more difficult to prosecute gun traffickers by giving them defenses when they are caught.
"All of them in H.R. 3668. All of them waived so that we could get that bill to the House floor as quickly as possible
"I don’t understand this gun agenda. This is not about the Second Amendment. Those three efforts are not about the Second Amendment.
"I don’t know whose gun agenda it is. I think we should probably be clear about one thing, and I’m not sure who it is in [Republican] Leadership who is most committed to this effort. But I can only imagine the pressure that was felt when, as I read just on my way in here, House Leadership chose to show a modicum of decency and not move forward on these bills this week or next week in light of the tragic shooting.
"I can only imagine the pressure that those who made that decision felt by outside groups, by the NRA and others, whose agenda this is the fundamental part of.
"And so, I hope that we have the opportunity to move forward with a meaningful discussion. I hope we can acknowledge, I hope we have a chance to have a hearing, and at that hearing on that bill we can bring in sheriffs and police chiefs from small towns and counties across the country, from Portland, Maine to Dallas, Rocky Mount, North Carolina to Vallejo, California, Glenwood, Minnesota to LaGrange, Georgia, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Major Cities Chiefs Association, all of whom have come out opposed to that. And the Crime Subcommittee would not even give them a voice.
"We’ve blocked reasonable debate for too long. After tragedies like Las Vegas, I just think that we ought to be able to find ways to come together in this bipartisan way.
"I know that a lot of my colleagues will not share the same views I have on how we prevent gun violence. But if we can’t all commit to work together to try to eradicate gun violence, then we’re not doing our jobs. I yield back."
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