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Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, as I listen to the objection of my colleague from Utah, I am really struck by the absurdity and exaggeration involved in opposition to these commonsense measures that would simply save lives. The idea that we haven't debated background checks--what could be more untethered to reality? We have debated background checks for as long as I have been in the U.S. Senate and before then, when I was attorney general seeking to champion universal background checks. We have debated them in the Judiciary Committee ad nauseam. And we have shown, through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, that we can break the hold of the gun lobby that is the source of those absurd and ridiculous arguments.

Background checks take no guns away from any law-abiding citizen. They simply assure that people who are dangerous to themselves or others don't have them. That is the purpose of red flag laws, which I have also championed, and many of the other measures that we seek to pass--the repeal of PLCAA, which guarantees unbridled immunity to gun manufacturers; ghost guns, which we seek to ban because law enforcement finds them so dangerous; and numerous other commonsense measures.

I am here on behalf of a bill, Ethan's Law, S. 173, which ought to be common ground for everyone. It simply requires safe storage. And we know that 500 Americans every year, including more than 100 children, die from unintentional firearm injuries, many of them involving weapons that are unsafely stored.

There are loaded and unlocked guns in the homes of 4.6 million American children, and many of them perish because their parents or their neighbors' parents fail to safely store those weapons.

Nobody knows it better than Kristin Song. Her son died as a result of an unsafely stored weapon just after his 15th birthday. He was with a friend, and a firearm stored in a Tupperware box was used in play by these two young boys. Ethan Song died, and Ethan's Law, which I am seeking to pass by unanimous consent today, is in his memory. It was passed by the State house of representatives in Connecticut and our State senate. And 26 States--red, blue, purple--already have some form of safe storage and child access prevention laws on the books.

We know from the record of these laws in Connecticut that they work; they save lives. And we know also that gun owners believe that safe storage ought to be the law, ought to be required, ought to be mandated so that lives are saved.

In fact, even the firearms industry--including the National Rifle Association and the National Shooting Sports Foundation--agree that safe storage is a critical part of responsible gun ownership.

The NRA tells gun owners that ``[s]trong boxes and security cases . . . are inexpensive and give . . . quick access to . . . firearms in a defensive situation.''

The NSSF tells gun owners to ``[a]lways make absolutely sure that firearms in your home are securely stored out of the reach of children and . . . unauthorized persons.''

Ninety percent of the guns used in unintentional shooting deaths by children were left unlocked and loaded. The numbers are outrageous and depressing, but we can do something, and we should do something. And that is why I am here today to urge that we pass a bill that ought to be common ground--bipartisan common ground--and show that, in fact, democracy can work. We can pass measures that save lives that should be bipartisan. There ought to be no Republican versus Democratic debate on this floor or anywhere else. It ought to be a matter of common sense and common agreement across the aisle.

173 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; I further ask that this bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

No single gun owner will lose a gun--none--as a result of this measure.

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