Jane Harman: “have we become unhinged in this House? The business that most of us are engaged in all day today and the business that…”

“have we become unhinged in this House? The business that most of us are engaged in all day today and the business that we will be engaged in all next week is trying to pass responsible reforms to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, recommendations intended to make us safer. While we do this, hopefully on a bipartisan basis, we are debating today a wedge issue designed to make the people who live in the District of Columbia, the Members of Congress, and our families less safe. Let us understand what we are talking about here. I am reading from the description of this bill. We are repealing the ban on semiautomatic weapons, we are eliminating criminal penalties for possessing an unregistered firearm, and we are amending Federal law to eliminate criminal penalties for carrying a pistol whether loaded or unloaded. This is incredible, Mr. Speaker. I am astonished that this House would even spend 2 seconds on this issue. Maybe this is good rhetoric in somebody's campaign, but it is bad policy for the United States of America. Shame on this House for wasting time on this bill. I strongly oppose it.”