Since the horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas that killed 58 Americans and wounded over 500 more, I’ve been thinking a great deal about turning points, moments when if we had summoned the collective national courage to do the right thing, history would have been different.
In 2004, when I was just in my second term in the U.S. House, I witnessed just such a moment, when a majority of my congressional colleagues, who clearly feared the National Rifle Association more than they cared for their constituents safety, allowed the assault weapons ban to expire.
That shameful failure of leadership has cost many American lives. It exposed innocent citizens to massive and deadly firepower in tragedies like Las Vegas; Sandy Hook Elementary; Aurora, Colorado; Virginia Tech; Charleston; and too many others. And it has also resulted in the deaths of local police, most recently five brave officers in Dallas who were outgunned and woefully under-protected against assault rifles.
Even my fellow members of Congress are not immune to this carnage. Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) barely survived wounds received from a deranged gunman with an assault rifle and my great friend, former Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords (D-Arizona_ nearly died from a point-blank gunshot wound to the head.
The recent reflexive reaction to the Las Vegas mass shooting – an apparent bipartisan willingness to prohibit bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic rifles to function as fully automatic weapons – is just a tiny step forward down a long path towards gun safety sanity.
The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the 2nd Amendment as ensuring the private ownership of firearms, and I respect that. But when it was adopted in 1791, the founders, who were most familiar with muskets, could have not envisioned military-style assault rifles which fire hundreds of rounds per minute are legal, yet fully 40 percent of all gun purchases are conducted without any background check, while more than 30,000 Americans die from gunshot wounds each year.
As in previous years, I will once again cosponsor legislation to renew the assault weapons ban; to mandate universal background checks for all firearms purchases; to prohibit high-capacity ammunition magazines and to end the sale of firearms and ammunition on the internet.
Critics of my common-sense legislative proposals to curb gun violence often argue that no law can prevent every mass shooting. That’s true. But what is equally true is that Congress has the power, the ability, and the responsibility to prevent some of them – and we should just do it, without delay or excuses. What some members lack is the courage to act.
But a review of historical crime data shows that reducing the number of assault weapons actually works.
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, which categorizes mass shootings as incidents where five or more victims are killed by intentional gunfire and not as a result of any other related criminal activity, from 1973 to 2016 there were 108 mass shootings. Ninety-two of those incidents occurred either from 1973 to 1994 or from 2005 to 2016, but only 16 mass shootings occurred from 1994 to 2004, the decade during which the assault weapons ban was in force.
So the math is obvious: Fewer assault rifles result in fewer dead Americans.
The continuing deadly denial by Congress to protect our citizens and police officers from this menace is indefensible.
Far too many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle continue to weigh the urgent question of enacting reasonable laws to curb gun violence as carrying too high of a political risk. Their common sense is easily overcome by the fear of either a primary challenger funded by the NRA or the loss of campaign funds.
I am extremely proud to have never accepted a dime from the NRA and to receive my annual grade of “F” from them on my voting record. But even if I enjoyed their support, it wouldn’t matter.
I would still continue to vote consistently to protect the American people from gun violence because I am acutely aware that history is judging me. It’s judging my colleagues too. And those members of Congress who have the capacity to save lives but lack the courage or political will to do so will have to live with that shameful legacy.
That is a bloody stain that time will not remove.
