Pelosi Remarks at House Democratic Leadership Press Conference Urging Republicans to Act on ‘No Fly, No Buy’ Legislation

"Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for your very thoughtful message, for your leadership in bringing us together – now two days in the week since Orlando.  Yes, we are Orlando.  This is so tragic, so sad in so many ways.  It does offer an opportunity for us, though, to do something immediately about it.  And I would hope that we can reach out to our Republican colleagues and say: the least we can do is the ‘No Fly, No Buy' legislation.  We want more, of course.  We want reasonable background checks and the rest, and we think we have the votes for that on the Floor of the House, if the Speaker would bring up the bill.

"But right now, our focus is to say to the Republicans in Congress: if 80-some percent of the American people, 70 percent of NRA [members], Republicans, Democrats, all support passing the ‘No Fly, No Buy' legislation bill – if you're not allowed to fly, you shouldn't be allowed to buy the gun.  Let us prove to them, disprove what they suspect that the Republican majority in the Congress of the United States is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Rifle Association.  And that is what is standing in the way of our being able to protect the American people.

"We call upon them to disprove that at least in this instant.  We also call about our friends in the LGBT community, our friends in the gun safety community, our friends in the African American community who suffer gun violence – so many people suffer gun violence every day of the week in their neighborhoods.  Soon, Mr. Clyburn will address the one year anniversary of what happened in South Carolina.  So, if we can organize all of those folks, all expert in mobilization, all successful in changing the public mind and the public policy in relationship to issues of concern.  I think we have to act immediately and I think that we can be successful.  But in the meantime, the very least the Republicans could do is to pass the ‘No Fly, No Buy' [bill].  And with that, I'm pleased to yield to the distinguished Democratic Whip Mr. Hoyer."