Collins statement on the markup of H.R. 8

"I'm sad the bill before us represents another missed opportunity to prevent violence in our communities."

WASHINGTON – Ranking Member Doug Collins (R-Ga.) made the following opening statement at today's markup of H.R. 8. Below are the remarks as prepared: Ranking Member Doug Collins: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding today's markup. We’ve discussed the fact that many tragedies of mass violence are punctuated by missed opportunities for law enforcement to respond to mental illness or known threats. I’m sad the bill before us represents another missed opportunity to prevent violence in our communities. It's disturbing that in a clamor to "do something" to combat mass violence, you and your colleagues managed to craft a bill that does exactly nothing. In the last roughly two years, this committee has produced three laws addressing factors fueling gun violence. President Obama signed one of them. Evidence tells us, though, that H.R. 8 will solve nothing. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) — the research and evaluation arm of the Justice Department that informs criminal justice decision making — concluded in 2013 that universal background checks are ineffective without a gun registry. So, what did my Democrat friends do with NIJ’s conclusion? They ignored it. In fact, they wrote a bill that explicitly prohibits creating a registry. Let’s be clear, Mr. Chairman: In no way am I suggesting there should be a registry. That’s a profound intrusion on the rights of millions of Americans. But this shows our Democrat friends are perpetrating a fraud on the activists who support them. They’re peddling false hope to both activists and victims of violence. When we pointed out last week that H.R. 8 was ineffective, Democrats had to scramble for a new talking point. Chief Acevedo came to their rescue. He asked, if the bill saved just one life, isn’t it worth it? Well, we don't know if this bill will save any lives. We do know NIJ determined it would be ineffective. And we all know criminals don’t obey laws. As a result, this bill may cost us lives. Not only is this bill ineffective according to the Obama DOJ, its policy is so irresponsible it will turn law-abiding citizens into criminals with the stroke of a pen. Consider the domestic violence victim who has a restraining order against her abuser, but still lives in fear of him. She'd like a firearm to protect herself, but can’t afford one because, in their infinite wisdom, the chairman and his colleagues have prohibited the attorney general from capping the cost of the NICS check. If you happen to live here in Washington, D.C., the cost is $125. For many people, that means choosing between putting food on the table and protecting yourself from dangerous people. So, this victim’s friend offers to loan her a firearm. As a law-abiding citizen, under H.R. 8, this victim would have to go to her nearest Federal Firearms Licensee for a background check. Otherwise, she’ll be a criminal. Because she lives in North Dakota, the nearest FFL is four hours away, while her abuser lives just down the road. These aren’t choices people, particularly victims, should be forced to make. Yet, that’s the choice our Democrat colleagues will be forcing upon numerous victims like the young lady, Savannah, we heard from last week. They’d rather leave people vulnerable to victimization than write a law that works. But that’s only the beginning of the fatal flaws in H.R. 8. If a police officer sells his rifle to a fellow officer without running to the FFL first for a background check, they’d both be criminals. Likewise, if a step-sister gives a firearm to her step-brother without running to a local FFL first, they’d be criminals. There are countless lawful firearm transfers occurring on a regular basis between law-abiding citizens, none of which lead to crime. This absurd bill ignores that fact and turns all these innocent Americans into criminals. But this bill refuses to take the most logical step to combat gun violence — namely, preventing criminals from acquiring firearms. Criminals primarily get their firearms via theft or straw purchases. Both of those are already illegal, so we don’t need more restrictive laws — we need more enforcement. What’s more, research shows background checks do nothing to impact homicide or suicide deaths. At least one scholarly article this month concluded California’s comprehensive background check system policies “were not associated with changes in firearm suicide or homicide.” Sadly, the tragedies at San Bernardino and Thousand Oaks make this obvious. This bill does nothing to address what my colleagues would agree are key dimensions of mass violence, mental illness and a culture desensitized to violence. As a result, H.R. 8 wouldn’t have prevented Parkland, Sandy Hook, Orlando, Aurora or any of the other griefs my Democrat friends are exploiting for political expediency. Mr. Chairman, last week, we lost our friend and colleague John Dingell. Not long after the horrific events at Sandy Hook, he helped pen an op-ed on gun control explaining “any approach demands bipartisan support.” We should all reflect on how Congressman Dingell closed his op-ed. "Parents should spend less time leaving their children alone playing shoot-’em-up video games and more time with them doing activities they both enjoy. This includes taking children into the country to hunt and to gain, as we did as boys, a love for the abundance and beauty of nature as well as a respect for the responsible and legitimate use of guns.” Mr. Chairman, despite its title, this bill is anything but bipartisan. There are bipartisan solutions on the table, but this isn’t one of them. I urge my colleagues to oppose this misguided legislation.