Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011--Continuing

Floor Speech

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Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to this amendment.

This amendment serves no legitimate purpose and would only compromise our national security and put more Americans in harm's way.

By barring the use of Federal funds to mandate Federal firearms dealers to report the sale of multiple long guns such as semiautomatic assault rifles, this amendment would undermine the Obama Administration's efforts to combat cross-border illegal gun trafficking.

We must do everything we can to secure the border, strengthen our anti-gun-trafficking efforts, and help the Mexican Government fight the drug cartels.

The Mexican drug cartels are killing people at a staggering rate--more than 30,000 since 2006. And long guns are widely known as the cartels' weapon of choice.

Some may shrug their shoulders and conclude this is just another problem beyond our reach. That would be a mistake.

The drug cartels are getting their guns from the United States.

Since 2006, the ATF has seized more than 10,000 firearms and nearly one million rounds of ammunition destined for Mexico, where the public is not allowed to purchase or possess guns.

Authorities in Mexico say most of the guns used in police assassinations and cartel bloodshed originate in the United States and have pressed the U.S. to reduce the flow of weapons south.

And this isn't just a border state problem. The impact of this trafficking is felt in my hometown of Chicago.

According to the National Drug Intelligence Center, Mexican drug trafficking organizations have infiltrated small and large cities in 48 U.S. States, affecting our national security.

For example, Mexican drug cartels have a significant presence in Chicago, which Federal officials say is a key transfer point for drugs heading to Minnesota and points north and east.

Last year, eleven alleged drug traffickers with connections to the Sinaloa Cartel were indicted by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago as part of ``Project Deliverance,''--a multi-state and agency effort to disrupt the flow of drugs and guns across the border.

The drug cartel's violent war for control, which is fueled by illegal trafficking from the U.S. to Mexico, seriously impacts our public safety.

The ATF's proposal to compel federal firearms dealers to report the sale of multiple long guns is not about gun control or compiling a registry of long gun owners.

This is a law enforcement response to the evidence from successful tracings of weapons recovered in Mexico.

Recent tracings show that a large number of these weapons were first sold by a licensed gun dealer in California, Arizona, New Mexico, or Texas.

This amendment would undermine law enforcement's capacity to combat illegal gun trafficking and put Americans at even greater risk of gun violence.

I strongly urge my colleagues to oppose it.

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