Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013

Floor Speech

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, in May, thousands of law enforcement officers from around the Nation came together at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC to commemorate Peace Officers Memorial Day. The Congressional resolution that created this day of reflection dedicated it to the extraordinary law enforcement officers ``who, night and day, stand guard in our midst to protect us through enforcement of our laws,'' as well as the ``Federal, State, and municipal officers who have been killed or disabled in the line of duty.''

As we commemorate Peace Officers Memorial Day, it is vital for us to not only to honor the extraordinary work of our Nation's law enforcement professionals, but also to listen to their suggestions for how we can make our Nation a safer place to live. And on one subject, the overwhelming majority of our Nation's law enforcement communities have been resolute and clear: Congress needs to support common sense measures, such as background checks for gun sales, to help stem the gun violence that plagues our Nation.

This is far from a revolutionary idea. Polls consistently show that approximately 90 percent of Americans support universal background checks. So do major law enforcement groups such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, the National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, the Police Executive Research Forum and the Police Foundation. These groups, each of them dedicated to the safety of our people, tell us that the time is now to act to prevent more senseless gun violence.

The extension of background checks to all gun sales would go a long way toward making our neighborhoods safer. Today, anyone, including convicted felons and the mentally ill, can walk into a gun show and walk out with a deadly weapon. As Police Chief Ronald Haddad of Dearborn, MI put it in a letter he wrote to me this past April, ``Police see firsthand the toll that gun violence takes in our schools, on our streets, and among our fellow officers--and we know from experience that our broken gun laws are a significant part of the problem.''

This status quo has dangerous consequences. A 2004 Department of Justice survey found that 80 percent of prisoners who committed crimes with handguns got them through private transfers, where no background check is required. In many of these cases, a simple background check could have stopped a tragedy and saved lives by keeping a weapon out of the hands of someone who sought to use it for harm. As Baltimore County Police Chief James Johnson put it at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this year, ``The best way to stop a bad guy from getting a gun in the first place is a good background check.''

We should listen to the voices of those entrusted with the safety of our communities. We should listen to the officers who every day confront well-armed criminals who legally purchase weapons to turn on innocents. We should live up to the spirit of Peace Officers Memorial Day by passing the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013, a common sense piece of legislation to protect our society from more senseless gun violence. We owe the brave law enforcement professionals who keep our communities safe nothing less.

Source