Mike Thompson: “I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and also for her leadership in regard to gun violence prevention and all the work…”

“I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and also for her leadership in regard to gun violence prevention and all the work that she has done and all of the effort she has put forward to try and bring some common sense to this issue. The speaker before me said that she will never forget what happened at Sandy Hook and where she was when that tragedy took place. I don't think there are any of us who know what Sandy Hook was or were in Congress when Sandy Hook happened or care about this issue who will ever forget where we were. For me, I was in my home State of California, in the Sacramento Valley, in a duck blind. I was duck hunting. Yes, I am a hunter. I am a gun owner. I carried a weapon in Vietnam during the Vietnam war. I strongly support the Second Amendment. But I truly and passionately believe that, as a responsible gun owner, I have a responsibility, as does every responsible gun owner in the United States of America, to speak out to make sure that everyone who handles and owns a firearm does it safely and responsibly and that we do everything we can to make sure that people who shouldn't get their hands on firearms don't. I know you can't stop everybody, but we should be doing everything we can to minimize the likelihood that someone who shouldn't have a firearm--a criminal, a domestic abuser, someone who is dangerously mentally ill--doesn't get their hands on firearms.…”