Were killed in Mass Shootings. The latest barrage in the litany of Mass Shootings that have become all too routine in our country. To say nothing of the american lives lost in everyday gun violence in our community. Its on the mind of the American People. I was at the airport. Someone i didnt know grabbed my arm and he said, senator, do something about gun violence. I lost my nephew to gun violence last year. Its on so many peoples minds. Thats why our first order of business in the senate should be to take action on hr8, the house passed bipartisan background checks act. We must grapple with the stark reality that gun violence is becoming an all too routine occurrence and that we in congress have both the ability and responsibility to do something about it. Hr8 is the most common sense way for the senate to save american lives. Its bipartisan. It is already passed the house. And as a matter of policy, if its absolutely necessary to close the loopholes in our background check system in order to make other gun laws effective. We can and should pass a very strong red flag law. But what good would a red flag law do if someone were adjudicated and unable to have a gun and he could go online and get that gun with no check at all . You dont have background checks, bad people will get guns, felons, spousal abuser, those who get red flags. So its critical that we pass a universal background check law and close the loopholes. That we do everything that we can to prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands in the first place. Background checks must be the base, the foundation we start from when we talk about gun safety legislation. Just look at the case of the shooter in odessa, texas who reportedly failed aching check in 2014, but was able to purchase a gun through a private sale with no background check. This is one of the loopholes that the bipartisan background check act would close. And these loopholes were never intended i was the author of the brady law and proud of it, saving tens of thousands of lives back in 1994 when i was a house member and a chair of the crime subcommittee. Back then there was no internet. When some of the gun advocates here said exempt gun show loopholes. Gun shows were simply a place to show antique type guns, your 1928 dirringer. A derringer. Weve got to close the loopholes. Its not taking away the rights of citizens who want to bear arms, something i believe it, than when it passed, its just closing loopholes as time has evolved. Now, there are two people in washington to make this legislation which would greatly reduce gun violence pass. Leader mcconnell and President Trump. Leader mcconnell had the power to make sure this legislation passes this body, or to make sure that it doesnt pass. Its in their hands. The republican leader determines the senates business. After the shootings in el paso and dayton, we demanded the leader call the senate back into session so we could respond to the crisis. He refused. Maybe he hopes that the violence would fade from the minds of the public and the issue would fizzle out. Well, thats certainly not happened and democrats wont let it happen. And unfortunately, there is frequent the increased frequency in Mass Shootings wont let it happen either. And democrats return to washington. We carry with us the frustration of americans who demand action, but have seen far too little. These are demands of men and women, people from urban areas, suburban areas and rural areas, and so, with their importuding in mind, well make sure that guns are front and center for the next three weeks and beyond until meaningful change is achieved. By contrast, leader mcconnell did not mention gun violence in his opening remarks today after promising we would have in debate in the senate when we returned. We await word from the leader when that debate might take place. One thing we know na leader mcconnell said the question of background checks will come down to President Trump. If the president took a position on a bill, leader mcconnell said, id be happy to put it on the floor, thats what he said, his words. If thats the case, the president has a historic opportunity to save lives by signaling his support by the house passed background checks bill. So far hes been all over the lot. The president told me hes going to get the strongest possible bill, but has not committed to what he might support and then in future days seems to have backed off that statement. Thats why Speaker Pelosi and i sent President Trump a letter today urging him to support hren 8 the University Background check bill. And to make his position public. President trump can lead his party to do something that the n. R. A. Has long prevented republicans from doing, by providing these republicans cover on the republican president s support. President trump, please read our letter, support the bipartisan background checks bill. Its common sense, enormously popular with the public, popular with republicans and gun owners and above all, would save american lives. Maybe that man at the airport, i dont know his name or where he was from would not have to come up to me and tell me his nephew had died of gun violence if we had passed these laws. The time to act is now before more lives are lost. The pressure is on President Trump and leader mcconnell to act. I field the floor. I yield the floor. Senator from texas. Madam president , i came to the floor and heard the democratic leader talking obviously about the terrible incident that occurred in el paso and dayton and now in odessa. Since we were here last session weve had two shootings, one in el paso and one in odessa, and i i will confess that these are terrible tragedies that caused us to first ask the question why and then caused us to ask the question what . What can and what should we do to try to stop incidents like these in the future. Ill remind the democratic leader we actually have a great template for bipartisan support for guns safety legislation, which is the bill we sent to the president last year, called fix n iechibc. The National Background check. You if youre subject to a protective order or submitted to a Mental Health crisis, all of these under existing law prevents you from purchasing or presenting a firearm. If the background check system doesnt work, it doesnt count for much. Im glad that we came together on a Bipartisan Legislation and passed this by overwhelming margins. So anybody suggesting that we simply havent done anything has a faulty memory. At the very minimum. But i would also ask that we pass legislation that would enhance school safety. You know, one of the problems is, these cowards that commit these terrible acts, they dont go shoot up police stations. They go to the soft targets like the schools and no parent should send their child to school wondering whether theyre going to be safe from attacks like weve seen occur, fasts like santa fe or School Districts in texas. We passed Bipartisan Legislation to deal with that as best we could. Rerecognized many of the people who commit these acts are a danger because of a Mental Health crisis and in a 21st broad bipartisan bill we passed legislation that provides for piloting of assisted outpatient treatment. The reason thats so important is because if youre dealing with it as a adult, an adult child, an adult spouse, obviously, or a parent. Theres very little you can do to make them follow their Doctors Orders or get the kind of treatment that they need to take their medication. But as a result of an outpatient treatment, as a Mental Health professional can petition a court for court order, requiring people to comply with their Doctors Orders to show up four i remember that points to take their medication and theyve reaped tremendous benefits around the country, protecting people from themselves when theyre in the Mental Health crisis and protecting other people from potential acts of violence that they might commit. Its not true that people who are mentally ill are now more prone to violence, but certainly when they lose control of themselves and theyre in a meant health crisis, they can be a danger to themselves and others. So this assisted outpatient treatment, Pilot Program that we pioneered in the 21st century cures act, i think, provides another tool. Ap then we provided Law Enforcement with additional training. Thats where the active Shooter Training came from. Actually pioneered down in san markos, texas, at Texas State University where they trained Law Enforcement not to sit on the perimeter while the shooting goes on inside the building, but to attack the shooter where they are, would he went one step further to make sure not only that we can stop the shooter, we can save lives and keep people from bleeding to death by training emergency medical personnel to follow the police into an active shooting scene to save lives. Now, part of the problem with discussing this topic, theres a lot of mythology out there. I heard my friend, the democratic leader saying if we passed another background check system maybe dayton or el paso would not have happened. Well, both of those shooters passed a background check. Are you saying we should pass a law to pretend were doing something, but actually would not have a positive impact on saving lives . Thats not what we did in the fix n iechic belill. The shooter was disqualified fr, but the Domestic Violence into the background system. When he went to buy a firearm, it didnt catch him. He was able to lie and then buy. Im proud to say as a result of this Bipartisan Legislation weve passed there has been a 400 increase in the federal government providing additional background check information into the National Criminal background check. And i think as a result of the bipartisan bill we passed together, lives will be saved, thats not we ought to be about, not by show boat or political posturing, we ought to be about solving the problem and lets be clear, lets get our facts right first. The democratic leader mentioned odessa. Well, it is true that the shooter in odessa did have a Mental Health commitment and he tried to get by a gun through traditional means and he failed a background check so he wasnt successful. And while the details are still being investigated, it looks like he purchased a firearm from an unlicensed firearms dealer, which is a crime. And if the dealer sold the firearm to the shooter knowing that he was disqualified from purchasing or buying a firearm, that would be another crime. So, trying to suggest that some sort of additional background check would have solved that problem, when what the dealer did, and what the purchaser did were already illegal, i just dont think holds up. So i look forward to continued discussion and debate on this topic. Its on the mind of an awful lot of people, as i traveled across my state, the state of texas this last this august as we all did during the august work period. But i always benefit from going back home and getting refreshed by the thoughts, the ideas, the aspirations of real people instead of living here inside this fantasyland known as washington d. C. I always tell people washington is a fascinating place to visit like disneyland. Its not real. Whats real people we visit back home. What the laboratories of democracy produce, which are the states, including the great state of texas. I also, as i travel back home, enjoy sharing updates about what weve been working on here in washington and seeing how legislation we passed can actually make a difference back home. One example is the program authorized by a law that i introduced called the project safe neighborhoods, which is now the law of the land. Its a bill i introduced which is now the law. I invited attorney general barr to come to dallas, texas to hear how this initiative has already begun driving down crime rates in a couple of our communities in dallas. This Program Partners with local, state and federal Law Enforcement officials together with federal prosecutors to target violent offenders. People who have no legal right to possess a firearm, who use firearms routinely in committing crimes and targeting those offenders and with the communities and thus creates safer neighborhoods. Its already having a positive impact in communities across my state and im eager to see the longterm benefits of this incredible program. And in austins, i visited the university of texas in august and met some veterans reaping the benefits of what we passed last summer, the veterans stem hof course, science, technology, engineering and math, and it made a seemingly small change to a program that extended g. I. Bill eligibility for veterans pursuing stem degrees because we made a technical, but important change, more students are able to continue their education with significantly less financial stress. And the president of the university of texas system said that instead of just three courses that veterans could qualify for using their g. I. Bill, they could now qualify, i think he said the number was 25, it may have been 28, but multiples of what they could qualify for under existing law. So this small change will make a big difference. I enjoyed hearing from the students that are using these g. I. Bill benefits about their career goals and look forward to seeing all that they will accomplish. In addition to those meetings and those visits, i attended a Ribbon Cutting of a brand new business in st. Angelo, and i spoke with victims of assault in grapevine the money that we helped to appropriate for backlog rape kits. And i was able to join my friend Henry Cuellar to discuss the u. S. , mexico, canada trade agreement. It was a busy work period, but also marked by heartbreaking moments that i alluded to a moment ago. On the moment of august 3rd, a gunman stormed into walmart in el paso, texas killing 22 innocent people and wounding two dozen others. It became the deadliest mass shooting in the United States this year. In a community as tightnight as el paso, and i would note as the shooter traveled from another part of the state to el paso. He was not from el paso. But the heartbreaking confusion quickly turned into rage when we learned that the shooter was a white supremacist, his crime could only be one described as domestic terrorism. The day after the shooting, i visited el paso and met with several of the victims, as well as the Law Enforcement officers responding to the tragedy. Members of the Community Created a memorial to honor those who lost their lives and on that first day, it was relatively small, about four feet wide the by the time i returned to el paso with President Trump and the first lady three days later, this four feet wide memorial had grown to hundreds of feet wide. The outpouring by the community was overwhelming. In the face of tragedy and unthinkable grief, the strength and support of the entire community from that memorial to the long line of folks waiting to donate blood, to the donations to help the victims was truly remarkable. But as i also indicated at the beginning of my remarks, less than a month later, we experienced another shooting. And ma man went on a shooting rampage killing seven people and wounding 25 others. When i visited in odessa this past week, i met with officer James Santana injured in the shooting, but fortunately is expected to make a full recovery. When i asked the police chief or excuse me, yeah, the police chief in ector county where odessa is located, what could we do in washington that could help . He said, we can just dont have adequate resources to help people suffering from a Mental Health crisis. That might be one area where you can help. I had the pleasure of thanking the men and women in blue, our Law Enforcement officers for their Quick Response in odessa and thank them for the work they do every day. By the way, i also had the opportunity to travel to the white house this morning. President trump gave an award to the Police Officers in dayton, ohio, who were able to stop the shooter there and offered certificates of commendation to some of the employees at walmart who helped save lives in the shooting episode there. While major events like these are ones that grab the headlines, texas Law Enforcement officials and officials all over the country are on the street each and every day doing everything they can, they can possibly do to keep our community safe. And i think it would just be negligence on our part not to continue to thank these men and women and especially those who have responded to tragedies like el paso, midland and odessa. As our state continues to grieve from this senseless loss the life, the question is, of course, how did this happen . How can we prevent it from happening again . Well, i know were going to try just as weve done in the past, to try to identify gaps and problems with the law and fill those gaps and save lives in the process. If i knew how we could pass a law here that would prevent people from committing crimes, we would pass it unanimously, but unfortunately, thats not the human condition. Ive been speaking with my constituents, as well as colleagues here in the senate over the last few weeks about what legislative solution might look like and i do expect us to have a wide ranging debate on the subject in the coming days. I just spoke to a representat