Mike Thompson: “Thank you, Congresswoman Esty, and thank you for your work on the task force and for your work every day to make sure…”

“Thank you, Congresswoman Esty, and thank you for your work on the task force and for your work every day to make sure that we all come together to make our communities safer places to live, to work, to recreate, and to raise our families. One of the things, one of the beautiful benefits of doing this work for me has been the honor I've had in not only working with great dedicated people, yourself included, but meeting some of your wonderful constituents. Their passion is on fire in Connecticut. I've met with them many times with you, sometimes alone. We got another glimpse of it yesterday, as you mentioned, when Team 26 rode into Washington, D.C., rode all the way from your district to Washington, D.C., to call on all of us to work together to pass these bills to make our communities safer. They're wonderful folks, they're dedicated, they're hardworking, and I can understand why after watching you and experiencing your leadership on this issue. So thank you very much for all that you are doing. And I just want to remind folks that the American people want us to make our communities safer; they want us to pass sensible laws that will do this. And everyone will tell you we shouldn't allow criminals and the dangerously mentally ill to get firearms. Well, how in the world can you do that if you don't do some just real commonsense steps to make sure that doesn't happen? We're talking about a couple of them today--straw purchases and gun trafficking.…”