Honoring Those Lost in Aurora
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
As we gain perspective on the recent horrific shooting in Aurora, Colorado, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and on all those who have been impacted by this tragedy. I, like many Americans, have been uplifted by the many examples of courage and heroism that have emerged from this dark moment. A young woman refusing to leave her injured friend, pulling her out of harm’s way. A man giving his life to shield a loved one. A nineteen-year-old stepping back into danger to rescue a mother and her two young daughters. These stories, and the others that will almost certainly emerge as time goes on, serve as powerful reminders of the simple decency that makes our nation strong.
But as we reflect on these stories, it is also important that we begin to understand what caused or contributed to this heinous act. When the alleged shooter burst into the theater, he opened fire on the audience with an AR-15 assault rifle. The AR-15 is a type of military-style assault weapon, built for no purpose other than combat. According to the Congressional Research Service, they were designed in the aftermath of the Second World War to give soldiers a weapon suited for the modern battlefield. Such weapons often use high capacity ammunition magazines, which allow shooters to continuously fire rounds without reloading. It has been reported that the alleged shooter used an oversized ‘drum’ magazine, which reports have indicated could fire a hundred rounds without reloading.
Between 1994 and 2004, a federal ban prohibited the purchase of assault weapons. The idea was that if we took lethal weapons with no sporting purpose off the streets, it would make our society safer and protect American lives. Our law enforcement community strongly supported it. And it worked. After the ban was enacted, Brady Campaign studies observed a 66% decrease in the number of assault weapons that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) traced back to a crime scene. When assault weapons were taken off the market, our nation became safer. But unfortunately, Congress allowed the assault weapons ban to lapse in 2004, and repeated efforts to reinstate it have been unsuccessful.
So this past May, when the alleged gunman walked into a local gun shop, he was able to purchase an AR-15 assault rifle. The sale was completely legal. Two months later, he used that same weapon to open fire on a movie theater, filled with innocent people. The oversized ammunition magazine allowed him to fire continuously. Thankfully, the weapon jammed during the attack, and he was forced to switch to one of the other three firearms he had purchased, legally, in the preceding weeks. He killed 12, and injured 58. Some were fathers and sons, mothers and daughters. They were all individuals with plans and dreams. Some were members of our Armed Services, who had volunteered to fight for our country.
Mr. President, as elected officials, our greatest responsibility is to protect the lives of the American people. A renewal of the federal ban on assault weapons would help keep these combat weapons off our streets and out of our neighborhoods. It would prevent them from getting into the hands of criminals who can legally buy them today, or who can easily secure a straw purchaser to do so. They aren’t used to hunt – they are too often used to kill. I urge my colleagues to reinstate the federal ban on assault weapons and to take up and pass legislation like S.32, the Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act, which would prohibit the sale of military-style ammunition cartridges. We can honor the memory of those who lost their lives in Aurora in many ways – one would be by passing such legislation.