the assault weapons ban was singularly ineffective.

Jared Loughner, the guy, the Tucson shooter, was an admitted drug user.

I am so grateful to you and to her for the public service that you have offered in the last year under difficult circumstances.

I hope we will have a follow-on hearing where we will ask administration witnesses to come before the panel and to testify why the Department of Justice and other law enforcement agencies of the Federal Government are not enforcing laws…

Gabby and I are both responsible gun owners. I bought a hunting rifle from Walmart a few months ago, and I went through a background check.

I join you in believing that Americans have a strong and robust right to possess firearms; it is the law of the land.

I also want to take the opportunity to congratulate Gabby's friend and much respected former colleague, Jeff Flake, on his new role as Arizona's junior Senator.

No one can take away those rights or their guns. Second Amendment rights are the foundation on which our discussion rests.

We are also anti-gun violence, and we believe that in this debate Congress should look not toward special interests and ideology, which push us apart, but toward compromise, which brings us together.

Tomorrow I will introduce the Mental Health in Schools Act which will improve access to mental health care for kids.

I have cosponsored a bill to limit the number of rounds in a magazine.

under it there has been no discernible reduction in the lethality and injuriousness of gun violence.

My wife would not be sitting in this seat, she would not have been sitting here today if we had stronger background checks.

The vast majority of people with mental illness are no more violent than the rest of the population.

If we can all agree that criminals and those adjudicated as mentally ill should not buy firearms, why should we not try to plug the loopholes in the law that allow them to buy guns without background checks?

The bill I introduced last week against gun trafficking will similarly prove helpful and I believe will become an accepted part of our crime control framework.

I look forward to a constructive dialogue with your Committee.

But you know, it really comes down to Congress doing the right thing and coming up with some responsible commonsense changes to gun violence laws.

Seventy-five percent of NRA members believe that you should have a background check before buying a gun.

This is a very political issue. You know, as you know, you know, money and politics kind of drive the discussion on a lot of these issues.

But it really comes down to Congress doing the right thing and coming up with some responsible, commonsense changes to gun violence laws, and I think, if we do that, we can reduce the number of deaths in this country from mass shootings…

Personally, I don't think so. You know, I don't think that will work. Gabby and I are both very strong supporters of the Second Amendment.

Gabby and I are both very strong supporters of the Second Amendment. I defended the Constitution. I defended the Second Amendment flying in combat over Iraq and Kuwait defending our country. Gabby owns a gun. I own a gun. This really isn't…

From my experience in the military, I spent 25 years in the Navy, assault weapons are good at killing a lot of people all at once.

A high-capacity magazine was used in Tucson, Aurora, it was used in Newtown.