quorum call:

ms. heitcamp: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. heitcamp: mr. president today i rise to speak about and honor our nation's vietnam veterans particularly north dakota's vietnam veterans. since i took office, i've made it a priority to travel throughout north dakota to meet with my state's veterans.

so many wonderful men and women who continue to serve not only their country but also our state and their communities. all these veterans deserve a place of honor in our society. we are in the midst of a 50th anniversary of the vietnam war. on may 25, 2012, president obama issued this proclamation calling on the nation to honor vietnam veterans and to honor particularly those brave service members who gave their lives in service to their country. this special period of honoring our vietnam veterans runs through 2025, and today i follow up on a commitment i made last year. i want to focus on north dakota soldiers who lost their lives in vietnam. in this effort, i have partnered with students from bismarck high school in researching these soldiers, and i want to thank their instructors: laurie fortie

and allison win dell for sharing their students' research with my office. i think this is a wonderful partnership to explain and research a war that was long forgotten for many of these young students. throughout this effort, i want to make sure our nation never forgets the needs of our vietnam veterans, and i want to make sure ow our nation continues to further honor them. i have a poster that we've created that will be placed in every one of our offices both in washington, d.c., and in my various state offices. and i'm hopeful we'll be able to distribute this poster throughout all the veteran service organizations in north dakota as we continue this period of remembrance.

in north dakota, we take much pride in our history and devotion to service. when our nation, our state and our communities call, north dakotans stand up -- no matter what the cost. 198 sons of north dakota did not make it home from the vietnam war. 198 sons of north dakota gave their lives in service to the freedom of this country these sons brothers, and fathers have made the ultimate sacrifice, and today i want to individually honor them by talking about the lives of these individuals -- some of these individual members. i intend throughout this congress to come to the floor and remember each one of them individually and remember each one of their sacrifice. the and so today i begin with david elsberg.

i was june 1949. he served in the army, 196 light infawntory brigade. the date of his death was september 9 1969. he was 20 years old. david had a brother, he had a sister and three brothers, one who also served -- a brother who also served and was injured in vietnam. david's family remembers him as a kind, generous person who thought of everyone else first. fellow soldier paul hughes wrote the book "the light within" which includes an account of david's death. david's family is thankful to his fellow soldiers and friends for taking care of him. elroy buyer born february 29, 1947 grew up in langdon. served in the army 101st airborne division.

his date of death was may 5 1968. he was 20 years -- 21 years old. he had three brothers and one sister. his mother violet was proud to be a gold star mother and was a member of the v.f.w. and american legion auxiliary. elroy played basketball for the high school. he was injured while firing at opposing forces to help his fellow soldiers return to safety. despite his injuries, elroy refused to return to the united states. after healing he bravely stood his ground if a firefight to help his fellow soldiers but was fatally wounded. elro y's nephew marcus was inspired by elroy's bravery and sacrifice and as a result joined the military. john lundine. he was born february 3 1932. his hometown was sentinel,

butte. he served in the army, advisory team 91. the date of his death was april 25 1970. he was 38 years old. john was the oldest of nine -- eight children. while stationed in germany he met and married charlotte. when he was killed in action, he left behind charlotte and three children ages 14, 9 and 4. before his deployment to vietnam, the army taught him the vietnamese language and he was postposthumously awarded the silver star for gallanttory in action and the brodges star for valor. john's family cher iebs the letter that the army gave him describing john's hair heroism when he sacrificed his life by drawing fire away from his fellow soldiers. i want to give special thanks to bismarck high school students emily schmidt brittany

hawkinson and shelby wi. tinberg for lrchg this important information about john's life. marvis brit was born in 1948, grew up in binford served in the army 11th battalion ninth infantry division. he died may 28, 1969, at the age of 20. marvis grew up on a farmer an his siblings remember him as a wonderful brother. his farmer is honored that he was so brave. he earned the air medal for meritorious achievement outstanding degree of professionalism and devotion to duty and the army commendation medal for heroic actions in keeping with the highest traditions of military service. marvis was pictured in the 1969 "life" magazine article about the 242 american soldiers killed

in seven days in the vietnam war. kenyan ken bean was born may 25, 1946. he grew up in which will williston. his date of death is may 19, 1967. he was 20 years old. ken was the oldest of three. ken's sister cheryl and brother lowell remember his wonderful sense of humor and strong desire to farm. he earned the bronze star, purple heart and the national defense service medal for heroism in his attempt to move his critically injured platoon leader to safety while under sniper fire. his commanding officer cited ken's courageous self-sacrifice and the inspiring bravery as reflecting great credit upon himself and the united states army. paul willis was born july 22,

1947. he is from canada, but he enlisted in fargo. he served in the marine corps first marine expeditionary force, first marine division. he died may 28, 1967. age at the time of death was 20 years old. his uncle a united states marine, sponsored him so that he as a canadian, could enlist in the united states marine corps. paul was proud to volunteer and served the united states as a marine so he could fight communism. paul signed a noncitizen waiver so he could serve in country in vietnam with his unit. one story that his friends recall is on a hunting trip paul was so proud of his service as a u.s. marine that when he went home for christmas after basic training, his friends joked that paul didn't take his uniform off

once. david birdall was born january 16 1953. he grew up in minot. served in the army, 101st airborne division. his date of death is stated to be january 20, 1972. he was 19 years old when he went missing. david is the first son born of 13 children. his family remembers him as always helping others. during the minot flood of 1969, the family moved to safety but david stayed in town sandbagging all night long. at age 17, david expressed interest in joining the army but his mom asked him to wait. at 18, he joined on his own. in vietnam, he started as a helicopter mechanic. he offered to go on a helicopter rescue mission but the helicopter was shot down causing it to catch fire and costing david his life. richard dick olson born june 8

1949 grew up in grand forks. he was in the marine corps first battalion fourth marines. his date of death was april 126 19 -- was april 26, 1968. he went missing at age 18. he was survived by his parents two sisters and a brother. he loved to sing and was in a band for some of his teenage yeemples his sister roberta remembers his generosity and talked about how dick bought groceries for a friend in need and how once dick literally gave the shirt off his own back so his friend would have a nice shirt to wear the day he enlisted in the marines. entering the marine corps at age 17 dick was killed in action less than one year later. merlin labor. merlin was born september 5 1947. grew up in siston. served in the army 198th light

infantry brigade. at the date of his death, he was -- it was may 14, 1969. he was 21 years old. he was the oldest of nine kids. he had four brothers and four sisters. his father served in world war ii. two of his brothers also served in the military, one in korea and vietnam and the other in the mideast. merlin loved cars and he held the sikeston high school record in track. he was also featured in the 1969 "life" magazine article about the 242 american soldiers who were killed in seven days vietnam. tom bayer. tom bayer was born march 10, 1941. he grew up in fargo. air force -- he served in the air force 20th tactical support squadron. his date of death is july 30,

1968. he was 27 years old when he went missing. he was survived by his wife karen and his two children, sandra and steven. he was preceded in death by one son, john. the family remembers tom as a wonderful person. he graduated from ndsu and enjoyed his family, flying, playing the piano hunting and golf. he was awarded after his death -- after his death, he was promoted from captain to major. his remains were recovered and laid to rest in fargo in 2010. charles went. charles was born february 24, 1947. grew up in dickinson served in the army, 4th infantry division. the date of death was june 5 1968. he was 21 years old. his father also named charles went served in the army. prior to joining the army at age 20 charles worked for vendell

engineering, which is now k.l.j. one of the most prominent engineering firms in the state of north dakota. douglas pierce. he was born september 24, 1952. he was from illinois but he was living in fargo when he enlisted. he served in the army, first cavalry regiment. his date of death is november 26 1971. he was 19 years old. his father worked as a v.a. hospital administrator in several cities, including fargo. two brothers, vince and mark, also died in the vietnam conflict. doug was a straight-a student an a-plus student who wanted to serve his country. he loved horses and his twin sister debbie, fondly remembers the day as children when they attended a hollywood parade and doug ran into the street to pick up and keep the horseshoe that fell off the foot of roy rogers'

horse trigger. dale amenson. dale was born july 11, 1948. he was from finley, served in the army, first infantry regiment. october 30, 1968, was his date of death at the age of 20. one of his nephews is named after him. his nephew is named dale. in high school, he was one of the charter members of the first f.f.a. chapter in finley. private first class almenson died only two months after beginning his service in vietnam. william baker june 28, 1949. he was from mandan. he served in the marine corps 2nd battalion 1st marine regiment. his date of death is january 12, 1968. he died at the age of 18. william was a third-generation veteran. his grandfather served in the

army in world war i and was awarded the silver star. his father served in the army in world war ii. william had three brothers, paul jim and john. william's brothers remember him as a dedicated marine who gave his life for the cause that he strongly believed in. they cherish his memories and the stories that they keep in their heart today about their brother. gil bardman july 26, 1960 was the date of his birth. he grew up in hanover. served in the army, 4th battalion, 9th infantry regiment. he died june 19, 1968 at the age of 18. gil had three brothers and two sisters. he grew up on a dairy farm in the hanover area. one of his squad leaders credits gil for saving his life by covering his flank the day gil died.

gil's niece brianna contacted three men who served with gil's vietnam with his family. three of his friends and his wife traveled to hanover to might gil's mother and siblings. i'm struck as i go through these names and as i review all of the people and i'm struck by sitting in front of children who maybe are just maybe two years younger than these brave men who have served our country. and i know that it is impossible to predict what amazing things they would have done had they not sacrificed their life. and so it is so important that we recognize their heroism and that we recognize their sacrifice and that we honor them during this period of recognition of the sacrifices of the vietnam war. thank you mr. president. i yield the floor. and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. mr. moran: mr. president, thank you. i would ask the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. moran: mr. president, thank you. in my home state of kansas, we enjoy a special way of life. i've talked about it many times here on the senate floor.

but that special way of life includes a rich tradition of hunting, of targeting shooting and other law-abiding activities covered by our second amendment rights. our state welcomes nearly 300,000 hunters each year and in turn, those individuals create jobs and the economic opportunity for many kansans. i was disturbed to learn hear, read of a recent proposal by the bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms. on friday, february the 13th, the a.t.f. proposed, without any instructions from congress, on its own volition, a framework to determine whether m8-55 ammunition ammo that's popular for hunting and target shooting, is primarily intended to be used for sporting or if it is more likely to be used in handguns by criminals. a.t.f. indicated it wants to ban the ammunition which has been used by law-abiding american citizens including kansans for

decades because it is -- quote -- "armor piercing." and, therefore poses a risk to the safety of law enforcement officials. the fact is almost all rifle ammunition is armor piercing. law enforcement officers' protection act of 1986 which a.t.f. cites as its statutory authority to ban this ammunition, specifically exempts armor piercing ammunition -- quote -- "which the attorney general finds is primarily intended to be used for sporting purposes." congress' intent for providing this exemption was clear. law-abiding citizens should not be deprived of their rights to use ammo for legitimate purposes purposes, such as targeting shooting, hunting and shooting competitions. in fact, kansans who've expressed their concern to me about this issue in recent weeks have consistently indicated that the proposed ban would directly interfere with their sporting uses and more broadly their second amendment rights.

troubling about the a.t.f. proposal was how it intended to judge -- quote -- "likely use" of this ammunition. a.t.f. planned to judge that m8-55 ammunition is more likely to be used in a handgun for criminal purposes rather than for sporting purposes simply based upon the bullet's weight and type of firearm in which it would be 7 loaded. -- could be loaded. what was missing was any interest by the a.t.f. in law-abiding ammunition consumers across the country. how might they use the ammunition how could a.t.f. determine -- how could a.t.f. determine primary intended use without conduct being aing a study on how that ammunition actually would be used by the public? the a.t.f. framework failed to make any objective conclusions that would serve as nothing more than a tool for increased gun restrictions and i would say increased gun restrictions that weren't passed by congress.

last week the senate judiciary committee chairman, senator grassley circulated a letter among my colleagues -- among me and my colleagues directed at the a.t.f. director, b. todd jones, outlining these and many other concerns related to the proposed framework to ban this ammunition. i joined senator grassley in signing this letter and i'm thankly it appears that our message was received, because on tuesday of this week, the a.t.f. announced this week that it will -- quote -- "formally delay the implementation of the proposed ammunition ban." i thank the thousands, in fact, tens of thousands of americans who voiced their concerns both to congress and to the a.t.f. who received an incredible -- the a.t.f. received an incredible 80,000 public comments on the proposed framework. congress has never banned this ammunition and has never intended to ban it. in the future the a.t.f. should not propose to ban any widely used form of ammo forcing --

i'm sorry, favored by law enforcement civilians for lawful purposes. the a.t.f. should not propose to ban any widely used form of ammo favored by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes. i'm thankful the proposed framework has been rescinded and i will continue my efforts in the united states senate to support the second amendment freedoms of all americans. i thank you, mr. president and i yield to -- i yield to the senator from ohio. mr. brown: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you. i appreciate the good work of the senator from kansas. we've done a number on the banking committee done a number of issues together, and i appreciate the work that we've been able to do across party lines. thank you senator moran. mr. president, -- the presiding officer: the senator from ohio is recognized.