Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) led a press briefing with House Democrats on stopping gun violence.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good morning. Welcome, everyone. Thank you all for coming on what is a very busy day
00:07here on Capitol Hill. I am Joe Neguse. I have the privilege of serving as the Assistant
00:12Democratic Leader for the House Democratic Caucus, representing the great state of Colorado
00:16in the U.S. Congress, and very grateful to be able to be joined today by the leaders
00:21here on the stage who have been champions for common-sense gun violence prevention.
00:28You will have an opportunity to hear from each one of them. Of course, Chairman Mike
00:33Thompson, who has led the charge for common-sense gun violence prevention here in the U.S. Congress
00:38for the better part of the last two decades. Representative Maxwell Frost, one of our young
00:44new leaders from the great state of Florida, whose efforts led to the White House creating
00:50an Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Representative Robin Kelley, who has been a champion day
00:56in, day out from the great city of Chicago for saving lives and has been a thought leader
01:02on common-sense gun violence prevention for many years. Representative Lucy McBeth, my
01:09sister in service, who we served together on the Judiciary Committee, and of course
01:12you all know her incredibly compelling personal story and her ability to convert anguish into
01:18action here on Capitol Hill. And of course, one of our most distinguished members, a senior
01:24member of the Appropriations Committee, a former member of the Rules Committee who represents
01:28Southern California here in the U.S. Congress, who's been a leader on gun violence prevention
01:32in her community. Representative Torres. Each and every one of them have worked side-by-side
01:39to try to get our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to do something about gun
01:45violence. We had great success in the last Congress, thanks to the leaders here with
01:52President Biden's leadership of getting the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act across
01:56the finish line. The first time in two decades, over two decades, that the Congress enacted
02:01bipartisan legislation to save lives. But we know that that legislation was the starting
02:08point, the first step, not the last step, and that there's much more to do. We stand
02:14here today to say we are ready to work with anyone in good faith to address what is clearly
02:22a pervasive problem across our country, from Colorado to California, from Florida to Chicago
02:28and everywhere in between. It is unfortunate and, in my view, shameful that House Republicans
02:33have refused to join us in these efforts. And if you are curious to know their priorities,
02:41one need look no further than the fact that the vast majority of the House Republican
02:46conferences across the street right now are meeting with the former president, former
02:50President Trump. And rather than addressing the fundamental issues and challenges that
02:55we face as a country, including gun violence, they instead have chosen to spend their time
03:01with former President Trump and, once again, bending the knee to the former president.
03:06In my view, it's time for Republicans to join us to do the right thing, and hope springs
03:12eternal that eventually they'll join our efforts. So with that, it's a privilege to
03:17be able to introduce, as I said, the chairman of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force
03:21in the U.S. House. And he's done a remarkable job. Chairman Mike Thompson.
03:28Thank you, Leader. I appreciate the invitation to be with some of my favorite people, who
03:33I respect tremendously for the work that they've done, not only on gun violence prevention,
03:38but in general, how hard they work for our country and for the people that we all represent.
03:45I don't really care where they are, but I think it's interesting that the guy they were
03:51with, I sat in his office when he was first elected to talk about gun violence prevention,
03:57and he said, I think we should just take away the guns from everybody who's a problem.
04:03Anybody who's dangerous, we should just take away their guns. And he looked at them,
04:07Senator Dianne Feinstein, and said, we should do your bill. And a group of Republicans said,
04:14well, there's a due process issue we have to worry about. He said, I don't care about
04:19due process. We'll worry about that later. By the time I got back to my office in the
04:24Cannon Building, his staff had clarified what he really meant to say. And it wasn't anything
04:30dealing with gun violence prevention. And that's kind of the attitude and the posture
04:37of the people that we're having to work with. This issue is only partisan in the United
04:42States Congress, and that's unacceptable. I'm here also as someone who supports the
04:50Second Amendment, a gun owner, I've owned guns all my life, a combat veteran who carried
04:57firearms in a combat environment. And I have a lot of friends in that same space.
05:04None of us, none of us think that we should ignore this any further. We all believe that
05:10there are things that we can do to make our communities safer that don't violate anybody's
05:16right to own a firearm. This is the 165th day of 2024. We've already had 212 mass shootings.
05:33So we have more mass shootings than we have days in the year. Every day, over 100 people
05:39in the United States of America die with some sort of firearm involved. Either they're
05:46killed by someone using a firearm, they accidentally shoot themselves, or someone accidentally
05:51shoots them, or they take their own life. And the people on this stage and the rest
05:58of our caucus are working tirelessly to make sure that we can bring about a change. And
06:05our colleagues who are down bending the knee, they're not doing anything. They've had one
06:12deal that they've passed out of the House this year that has anything at all to do with
06:16firearms. And that was a prohibition against the Veterans Administration notifying the
06:22NICS system if a veteran or a military person getting out of the military is a danger to
06:29him or herself. Twenty veterans a day commit suicide, most often with a firearm. And they're
06:38stopping this from being reported. There's a lot more that we can do, and I'm glad I'm
06:44on the side of the angels. And with that, I want to introduce one of those angels, a
06:51great friend, someone who's worked hand in hand with all of us. We go back from the beginning
06:56of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, someone who has raised the issue of day-to-day
07:03gun violence in her district and across the country, a great advocate, a great human being,
07:09Dr. Robyn Kelly.
07:14Thank you, Representative Conklin, for that very kind introduction. I want to thank Lead
07:18in the Goose for bringing us together. Last week, I introduced the Wear Orange Resolution
07:24in honor of Hydea Pendleton. She would have turned 27 years old, but her life was cut
07:30short at 15 when she was shot and killed in my district just months before I was sworn
07:36in. She was simply playing in the park with a friend. Every time I urge Congress to pass
07:42common-sense gun safety laws, I remember Hydea, who should have been safe at a park. But many
07:48of my colleagues, as you've heard, across the aisle don't even recognize gun violence
07:52as a problem. They talk about freedom, but the disproportionate impact of gun violence
07:58on black and brown communities isn't freedom at all. You don't want to let your kid play
08:04in a park, walk to school, even go to the grocery store. They talk about families, but
08:09they don't acknowledge children going to school and never coming back home. They talk about
08:14the Second Amendment, but they don't talk about the majority of gun owners like Representative
08:18Thompson who support gun safety laws. The toll of gun violence should weigh heavily
08:24on all of us. Every year, 43,000 people die from gun violence. Behind each of those deaths
08:32are family members, loved ones, co-workers, friends who miss them every day, not to speak
08:38of the trauma they all have to deal with. We are here to declare once again enough is
08:45beyond time for action. We can pass background checks on every gun sale to ensure that guns
08:50don't fall into the hands of dangerous people. We can implement safe storage practices to
08:55prevent children from unintentionally shooting their parents' gun. For years, I have worked
09:00to stop the illegal trafficking of guns into districts like mine from states with weak
09:05gun laws. Since I've been in Congress, Indiana and Wisconsin have made it easier to buy a
09:11gun. We must continue to fund community violence intervention efforts to address this crisis
09:17holistically and get to the root cause of gun violence. The lives of our children, neighbors,
09:22and community members are non-negotiable. Inaction is not an option. Next, it is my
09:29privilege to introduce my colleague, my friend, my sister in this fight. I want to introduce
09:36Representative Lucy Macbeth from Georgia's 7th District. Thank you.
09:47Thank you, Melvin, and thank you to Assistant Leader Caboose. Thank you so much for gathering
09:54so many of us here this morning. I think it's vitally important that we continue to keep
10:01this policy agenda on America's radar. And you are a treasured friend from my freshman
10:09class, and I thank you for all that you continue to do to advance policies to protect Colorado,
10:16your own state, but also our country. And I'm glad to be with my friends, each and every
10:22one of them, fellow fighters in our gun violence prevention movement here in Congress on the
10:28Hill. In the five years since I've come to Congress, the House Democratic Caucus has
10:34truly become the Gun Safety Caucus. We truly are the new gun lobby. And it gives me hope
10:42because I never, ever thought that I personally would be here in Congress, let alone living
10:47out my own son's legacy as we pass bills to stop any more families from feeling the pain
10:55of losing a child or a loved one to unnecessary gun violence, as I have and so many people
11:04around the country do every single day. It is a testament to leaders like our Gun Violence
11:10Prevention Task Force Chairman, Mr. Mike Thompson from California, that we are able to continue
11:18to celebrate these monumental accomplishments and remarkable change that is made in this
11:24country over the last few years. Our leaders like Robin Kelly, my sister in service, who
11:32is a fearless voice for Chicago and for this country. And she never lets us forget about
11:39the everyday gun violence that happens in communities, not only in the city of Chicago,
11:45but all over this nation. All the individuals, children, aunts and uncles and loved ones
11:54that continue to die every single day and no one knows their names outside of the families
12:00that lose them and the communities that love them. Because we know that gun violence doesn't
12:06care what political affiliation you are or it doesn't care where you live. And I'm so
12:15grateful to stand beside these gun sense champions every single day. And Norman Torres, who has
12:24heard firsthand the terrified 911 calls of those crying out for help and has been a tireless
12:32champion for gun violence prevention policies to keep all of our communities safe. And Maxwell
12:40Frost, who to me is truly the embodiment of the need for change felt by students who have
12:51stood up across this country and asked America to do better by them. Ask the adults in this
13:00country to make sure that they have the ability to live freely, unfettered by unnecessary
13:06gun violence. He is leading the charge and the change felt by students who are standing
13:14up every single day. And after terror and pain, he himself came to this hill, came to
13:24Washington as a lot of his classmates and a lot of his classmates that lost their lives,
13:31their lives were stolen from them. He's come to organize others and to ultimately become
13:38a member of Congress himself on this issue to make sure that no one else loses their
13:46life. As a mother forever, it fills me with hope to see so many of those in my son's generation
13:55like him that are standing up to join this movement. As you can see, we represent every
14:03cross section of this country and we're all coming together to make our future brighter
14:10and safer for our future generations. This month, we are marking two years of the most
14:18monumental gun safety reform that this country has seen in decades, led by our gun sense,
14:26House Democratic Caucus, and President Biden. With parts of my red flag bill, with community
14:33intervention funding, and with mental health resources for all 50 states, solutions that
14:39the American people have been crying out for overwhelmingly. They continue to cry out
14:47for common sense legislation to save lives, to save their lives. And we're building on
14:53that monumental progress with the introduction of my bipartisan Go Safe Act to keep weapons
15:00of war off of our streets. But each and every one of my colleagues has introduced legislation
15:07that is truly making a difference. With the introduction of new legislation and movement
15:14forward on discharge petitions that we are putting on the floor to force votes on these
15:19important bills, to force our Republican colleagues to address what's happening in their very
15:25own communities and their very own states. We, the Gun Sense Democratic Caucus, are working
15:33to protect every American, no matter what your political affiliation is. Even if the
15:40current majority doesn't want to stand up for the safety of their own constituents and
15:46their own families, I promise you, we will. I am so grateful to each and every one on
15:53the stage and all of my colleagues for all the phenomenal work that they do every single
15:58day. And as a survivor, having lost my own child, I cannot tell you how important it
16:05is to have their support. And now it is my complete pleasure to bring up to you an incredible
16:12voice at our caucus, Congresswoman Norma Torres from California.
16:19Thank you so much, Lucy. You truly are a leader on this very tragic issue that not
16:32a single one of us has not had to deal with. And thank you to our minority leader, Jonah
16:39Dizitz, for bringing us together and to be able to talk about an epidemic that has shed
16:49the blood of so many of our loved ones. This is an issue that ties us together through
16:56tragedy. As a former 9-1-1 dispatcher, one hot summer night, I answered a call of an
17:0711-year-old girl. The only thing that I could hear were her screams, horrible screams, followed
17:16by thumping, extremely loud, violent thumping, followed by five gunshots. As a 9-1-1 dispatcher,
17:27I had to count every single one of them as they exploded in my ears. I knew somebody
17:35was injured and we dispatched the police and the fire department. What I didn't know
17:44was that I would end up at the Hollywood Division in Los Angeles in a little, tiny detective
17:53unit translating that 9-1-1 call. And what I thought were screams were not screams. Uncle,
18:04please don't kill me. It is not my fault. They were the words of an 11-year-old girl
18:11who was innocent, who was innocent in this love triangle, that after this person had
18:19one alcoholic beverage, one beer, he was found too intoxicated to know better. Too
18:35intoxicated to understand that the thumping that I was hearing was her head being bashed
18:42on the wall. That he had shot off his thumb when he was holding her by the hair while
18:51shooting her point blank with a 9mm. Why did this unstable person have a handgun? As a
19:03mayor of my home city of Pomona, a 3-year-old baby was having a birthday party with Jumper
19:15in front of his house and a cake and several other toddlers celebrating his birthday. He
19:26was murdered, he was gunned down, he was shot in front of his home by someone who meant
19:35to shoot someone else who was supposed to be at the party but wasn't. As a mayor of
19:46my home city, I had to bury a police officer who was shot in front of our courthouse in
19:58a gang initiation, a gang initiation by a 15-year-old boy who had been jumped into a
20:11gang and was ordered to kill an officer. These stories go on and on and on, not just for me as a
20:22member of Congress, but also for many of you. America is not safe until we pass all of these
20:35bills that my colleagues have introduced, including my own bill. If you buy multiple handguns, those
20:49are reported to the DOJ. But if you go out and buy multiple long guns, those are not reported to the
20:59DOJ. This is the unjust legislature that we are serving in. This is the unjust Congress
21:12that fails to see that when the Second Amendment was drafted, it didn't say every single life
21:23in America could be and should be compromised because the Second Amendment is more important
21:32than that. It is unfair that we are teaching our children to hide from an active shooter.
21:41When I grew up, I was trained to deal with earthquakes. My grandchildren are learning
21:49to hide from active shooters. This is not the America that we want to live in. And I
21:56hope that our communities, who are being represented by the very people that stand in the way of
22:05sensible gun legislation, will stand up and communicate their wishes to their members
22:14of Congress because we must change and we must pass these bills.
22:20We have a lot of expertise behind us on gun violence, from some very senior members to
22:30a junior member who has surpassed so many different challenges. And I am so proud to
22:38stand here and share the stage with my colleague, Maxwell Frost, from Florida 10.
22:46Hello everybody, thank you so much for being here today and thank you so much to Deidre
22:52and Agus for putting this together. My mom's in D.C. this week and she just retired a few
23:02months ago as a public school educator of 37 years. She taught special education for
23:07all 37 years. But she's busier now more than ever because she's a Moms in Action volunteer.
23:14I'll go to events all across my district and I see her there and I'm like, Mom, did you
23:19come to see me? And she's like, well, I'm here at Moms in Action. She's up here for
23:24a lobby day and she's staying at my place last night and tonight and we were talking
23:30yesterday over dinner about some of the meetings she had. And she said, you know, on my
23:36slate I met exclusively with Republicans and with Republican staffers. And she said, I
23:42felt like I wasted my time. I said, why? Why do you feel that way? You know, your story
23:47is important. The survivors you were with, their stories are important. Why do you feel
23:51like you wasted your time? And she said, well, I felt like there was absolutely zero emotion
23:57in the person I was speaking with. And I completely understood what she was saying
24:02because I've had countless of these meetings, whether it's in Tallahassee in Florida or
24:07up here in Congress. In fact, I remember one of them right after a shooting I met with
24:11a legislator. He cried with our families actually, hugged folks, said he would do something.
24:19And the next day there was a floor vote on universal background checks and he voted the
24:25same way he's always voted. You know, I think the interesting thing is most Americans want
24:32gun violence prevention legislation passed. 90% of this country, over 90% of this country
24:37wants universal background checks. So it's bipartisan and there's consensus around the
24:41country, but when we walk into these halls, the term bipartisanship and consensus takes
24:46a different definition. And the definition it takes is what the NRA and the gun lobby
24:52allows to be passed. And it's a damn shame. You know, yesterday was the eight-year remembrance
25:00of when a gunman walked into Pulse Nightclub in my district in Orlando, Florida, and murdered
25:0749 people because they were queer. Murdered 49 people because they were people of color.
25:15That armed bigotry and hate was allowed to be armed by the government of the United States of America
25:23because we don't have the right laws in place to prevent people like that from getting the
25:28guns that they get. Yesterday we had a moment of silence. No Republicans joined. I'm actually
25:34happy no Republicans joined because if one joined I would have walked off the House floor
25:39because I refused to stand. You'll never see me stand in a moment of silence for a victim
25:44of violence with someone who won't vote to end it. I'll never do that. Because when I
25:50walk through these halls, I'm walking with Joaquin, I'm walking with Guac, who died in
25:57Parkland in a pool of his own blood. I'm walking with Jamie Guttenberg, who died in Parkland
26:03in her own blood. I'm walking with Jordan. I'm walking with Breonna Taylor. I'm walking
26:10with Tiana Major, who was a nine-year-old who was shot to death in my district just
26:15last year sitting on her bed in her own home. But despite all of that, I do feel like for
26:26the first time the gun violence prevention movement is stronger than the gun lobby. That's
26:31why the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act was passed. That's why we're seeing groundbreaking
26:36executive orders come from the White House. That's why we had the Office of Gun Violence
26:40Prevention. But when I say that I think the gun violence prevention movement is stronger
26:45than the gun lobby, a lot of people say, why haven't you gotten everything done? Well,
26:48you've got to study movement. We have the power now, but it's about sustained power.
26:54You don't get everything you want at once, but when you sustain it for a long period
26:59of time, we're going to look back after we've passed this legislation and say, we did this
27:04because of people power and because of the people on this stage. So we're going to keep
27:09fighting. I trust, and hopefully a majority, we'll be able to pass the legislation that
27:13we need and create a world where the leading cause of death for our children and teens
27:18isn't to be shot. That's the future I want. That's the freedom I want for our people.
27:27Thank you to Maxwell, a young man wise beyond his years. And I never thought I'd say that
27:32somebody else was a young man aged in Congress. To all of our members, incredibly compelling
27:38stories. And I just, I think the universal message is clear. Inaction is not an option.
27:44And we intend to take every action to save lives. Questions?
27:49Thank you, Leader Nichols. Breaking while you all were speaking, the Supreme Court ruled
27:55that anti-abortion groups lacked standing to bring the lawsuit against Memphis-Pristone.
28:00It was unanimous. I want to get your reaction to that. And then I have a question on the
28:04topic of the press conference. Any reaction to the access coming from Pristone being upheld?
28:10With respect to the Supreme Court decision, I have not heard that. So I'll be the first
28:14to tell you that. I look forward to reviewing the opinion. It sounds like you're saying
28:18the Supreme Court affirmed access to the Pristone, which was important, is important. But make
28:25no mistake, House Republicans are working each and every day here in the Congress to
28:31bar access to reproductive health for hundreds of millions of women across the country. So
28:37the struggle, the work, continues here in the Congress to protect reproductive access
28:43in the certain women that continue to make that priority.
28:46There are two gun-related Supreme Court cases still pending. I know you serve on Judiciary
28:51with Congresswoman McBath. What are your thoughts about those two cases, one on bump
28:57stocks and the others related to domestic violence? And what are your thoughts about
29:01the Supreme Court just in general? There's a lot of controversy around Alito and the
29:06flags, Thomas and the contributions or the gifts he's received. What are your thoughts
29:12about the kind of the legitimacy of the court right now and those two pending gun-violence
29:19cases as you all speak about this issue today?
29:22I'll give my colleagues an opportunity to respond. I would just simply say with respect
29:26to the two decisions that we're waiting on, both of which I think will have incredibly
29:32important impacts and consequences for the American people, I think the Supreme Court's
29:37extreme view and application of the jurisprudence that exists today, you best can see this in
29:47the Burley decision, has had deeply dangerous consequences for the American people. And
29:52one would hope that the court would take a step, take a moment, step back and recognize
30:00that its decisions have real-world impacts that are impacting families across the country
30:05each and every day. Time will tell as to what those decisions look like.
30:11Yeah, Mike?
30:15I think that any time anyone can manufacture an add-on part to a firearm that circumvents
30:23the law regarding that type of firearm, and you specifically mentioned bump stocks, that's
30:30an add-on component that turns a semi-automatic weapon into a fully automatic weapon. Fully
30:37automatic weapons are regulated differently than semi-automatic weapons. So it's clearly
30:42a workaround. And it was the last administration that regulatorily prohibited the sale of those
30:50bump stocks. And as you say, it's in the court. The way to fix that is to codify that regulation
30:57and we would be light years ahead and our communities would be safer. There are other
31:02types of manufactured components that people buy illegally and attach to or insert in firearms
31:10illegally that make them prohibited firearms. Those should be dealt with as well. And in
31:18regard to someone who is clearly a prohibited individual who beats their domestic partner,
31:29their ability to get a firearm, I mean, that should be a no-brainer for the Supreme Court
31:35or for anyone else. And hopefully the court will act accordingly.
31:41Thank you.
31:43Yeah, just real quick on the Supreme Court itself. Yesterday, Oversight Committee Democrats
31:48in conjunction with the Judiciary Committee had a roundtable on this and the influx of
31:56dark money that we see in the Supreme Court. And of course, we need to pass a code of ethics
32:00here. But on top of that, something I drew attention to in my question line is one of
32:05the lobbies and corporate interests we see that puts a lot of money towards the Supreme
32:10Court is the gun lobby. Now, we don't know if they pay for any vacations or anything
32:17like that, like we've seen some other billionaires do for Supreme Court justices. But we also
32:21have to pay attention to what happens before the justice gets on the court. How does NRA
32:26and dark money impact not just the nominating process, but also the confirmation in the
32:31U.S. Senate, where U.S. senators can be very much corrupted by gun lobby money as well?
32:36So it's a grave concern. The gun lobby has a vested interest in investing and corrupting
32:43U.S. senators and presidents to ensure that they get Supreme Court justices who will issue
32:50decisions that will lead to more guns being sold. And that's what the gun lobby wants.
32:54That's why they are against every gun law under the sun. They want to sell more guns.
32:59That's what it comes down to. It's not about patriotism. It's not about the Second Amendment.
33:03It's selling more guns. And if a law means they're going to sell less guns, they don't
33:08want it to be passed.
33:12I would just say, just to echo Chairman Thompson, I think articulated well the consequences
33:17of both of those decisions. I think most Americans would be aghast to learn that the
33:21Supreme Court is on the precipice of denying people's representatives the ability to ultimately
33:29ensure that folks who have committed violent crimes don't have access to weapons of war.
33:36In my community three years ago, an individual who had committed a violent misdemeanor was
33:42able to access an assault-style weapon and kill ten members of my community at a grocery
33:47store in Boulder, Colorado, including a police officer who died in the line of duty and made
33:51the ultimate sacrifice in saving lives.
33:55I think that it is nonsensical that we wouldn't take steps to ensure that prohibited individuals,
34:01as Chairman Thompson said, individuals who should not have access to a firearm given
34:07the violent crime that they have committed, to ensure that that is the case.
34:11But as we know, the Supreme Court, of course, is considering this question now.
34:16And the ramifications could be very profound.
34:20I want to ask you about Donald Trump's visit to the Capitol, or the Capitol area today.
34:25It's his first visit since January 6th. It's been reported that he told Republicans behind
34:29closed doors that he's attacked Christine Pelosi, Taylor Swift.
34:33I just want to get your response to this.
34:37Well, I have not followed the ruminations of the former president or what he apparently
34:42told House Republicans behind closed doors.
34:45I would just say more broadly the fact that nearly the entirety of the House Republican
34:50conference is spending their morning here in Washington meeting with the former president
34:56instead of doing the people's work and doing the people's business.
35:01And he was precisely moving, apparently they moved some committee hearing start times today
35:06so that they could indulge the former president, who, of course, as you know, I believe,
35:12has not visited Capitol Hill since the terrible attack on our nation's Capitol on January 6th.
35:18Look, House Republicans have capitulated and done the bidding of former President Trump
35:24every day for the better part of the last 18 months, and they have squandered their
35:30majority in the process. They have pursued political retribution on his behalf.
35:36That was best evidenced just yesterday with a baseless resolution of contempt that was
35:42passed against Attorney General Garland, who I think has served our country with great
35:47distinction and has worked vigorously to uphold the rule of law.
35:51So it's disappointing, but again, unsurprising that they would spend their morning that way.
35:56We will continue to put people into politics and focus on doing the work of the people.
36:00I just want to add, I stand with former Republican Speaker Paul Ryan.
36:07Just sort of following up on that, as a former impeachment manager, how do you feel about
36:11sort of how the narrative around January 6th, especially among conservative and Republican
36:15circles, has changed? You know, these are political hostages now, not political prisoners
36:20and not people who attack the Capitol.
36:22Well, I would say it's dispiriting, but I think the American people very much understand
36:28what happened on January 6th. They recognize it for what it was, which was an attempt by
36:34former President Trump to subvert the peaceful transfer of power that ultimately cost the
36:40lives of several individuals, the worst attack on our nation's Capitol since the War of 1812.
36:47Notwithstanding the extreme language that the former president and many of his sycophants
36:53have used and continue to use, the American people know better. They understand that January
37:006th was a shameful day, and a dark day in our country's history, and that it can never
37:05happen again.
37:07Yeah, Rob?
37:08As someone who was there on January 6th, on my hands and knees in the gallery, I think
37:13that January 6th also proved that good guys with guns don't stop the bad guys at all because
37:19of what happened, the police that were maimed and injured and, you know, some lost their
37:26lives. So, since we're talking about guns, I think January 6th is a good example of,
37:33you know, good guys don't always stop the bad guys.
37:37And I just want to say, just even as of, you know, yesterday, the day before, here in Georgia
37:46in my own state, in Atlanta, we had a tragedy. In Peachtree Center, there were four individuals
37:54that were shot, and the individual that caused the tragedy, the disturbance, had been jailed
38:0111 times. Jailed 11 times. So, there again, how does an individual such as this have access
38:08to guns? And so, what I would like from all of you in this room, of course you know our
38:15Gun Sense Democratic Caucus continues to work on this issue every day, but I would ask your
38:21help to push our Republican colleagues to go to our Republican colleagues and challenge
38:27them as to why they are not willing to do what is expedient and necessary to pass life-saving
38:35legislation here on the Hill. We can talk to you all day long, and you know where we
38:41stand, and you know how hard we work, but I would challenge you, those that have the
38:46power in media, to go to our Republican colleagues and to ask them and to press them as to why
38:54they are not willing to stand up on behalf of the American people and do what is right.
39:01I would just say, and then we'll go over here, I remember well standing on the floor
39:07of the Senate during an impeachment trial, making the case against the former president.
39:13I think it is shameful and the height of hypocrisy for those Republicans who, again, I remember
39:21very well at that time, condemned the former president's actions in inciting a mob to
39:28come disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, the electoral college certification process.
39:34The height of hypocrisy for them to now go and, as the chairman said, then to meet and
39:41meet with the former president, but they'll have to explain to their constituencies how
39:47they've reached that conclusion.
39:51A lot of gun violence is perpetrated by guns that are purchased illegally, so if a 15-year-old
39:57shoots somebody, he's probably not going to a gun store. Do you have any initiatives
40:03in place to deal with gun violence purchased through guns in the black market?
40:09We are fortunate to have a leader here who has made this a priority of her time in Congress.
40:14She led the way on her gun trafficking law that she introduced several years ago, which
40:21was part of the Bipartisanship for Community Act.
40:24That's what I was going to say. That's what I preached. Trafficking, because every time
40:29I came back to Congress, people would say, what is happening in Chicago? And Chicago
40:33has the toughest gun laws. They would use that against me and look what's happening,
40:38but no one else around us does, because of trafficking and because of store purchasing.
40:44And so that was a part of the Bipartisanship for Community Act. We just have to make sure
40:50that we have the resources, and President Biden just announced further resources for
40:56alcohol and tobacco firearms to do inspections and things like that, because Mike could probably
41:04tell you better than me how often places that sell guns even get inspections, because
41:10I've heard stories even from my community, how young people under 18, someone female
41:18told me she was 15 and went into a gun store and was offered a pink bullet, and things
41:26like that. But hopefully through the Bipartisanship for Community Act, we'll see a lessening of
41:32trafficking and store purchasing. And again, as I said, since I've been in Congress, some
41:39states around me, they've made it easier to get guns.
41:45Yes?
41:46How do you propose to regulate un-serialized, untraceable ghost guns, like made from 3D
41:52printers, in a technology that's only going to get better?
41:57There's been quite a bit done already. One of the first administrative acts out of the
42:03Biden administration was to prohibit what we refer to as ghost guns. And at that particular
42:11time, you could buy the pieces to a gun in a kit, and you didn't need a background check
42:17to buy it, and it wasn't serialized. And I believe most Americans will agree with me
42:24that anybody who feels that they need to buy a gun, avoiding a background check, and
42:30that gun's not serialized, that person probably up to no good. So the Biden administration
42:36promulgated regulations to stop that. The manufacturers of those kits immediately changed
42:43how they sell the kits to avoid being regulated. They sold the components separately. They
42:50still sold them without a background check. They still sold them without serial numbers.
42:55So the Biden administration kicked in immediately and solved that problem as well.
43:02Make no mistake, ghost guns are a problem. In one of my cities in my district, in rural
43:09California, the law enforcement takes ghost guns off the street nearly every day. Just
43:17this week, they busted somebody who had a mobile unit. It was like a travel trailer
43:23where they were manufacturing ghost guns inside. 3D printers with a whole ball of wax.
43:30So this continues to happen. We need to have better coordination between state and federal
43:36law enforcement. We need to provide more funds to law enforcement so they can work to keep
43:42these things off the street. And we need to make sure that we do everything at the
43:48federal level to intervene to stop this from happening. There are a number of pieces of
43:56legislation that make it even more difficult and more punishable for people who do this.
44:03And those are the types of bills that we need to see passed into law.
44:10Thank you to Chairman Thompson, Representative McBeth, all the members who joined us today,
44:15and thank you all for joining us.