On the recordMarch 21, 2013
To my friends on the Appropriations Committee, I do want to congratulate you for working together. This is a positive sign for this Congress. But the reason I stand today here in this Chamber is that 8 months ago yesterday, 12 people were murdered in an Aurora theater. Fifty-eight were shot and hundreds were traumatized. Three months ago, 22 kids were killed in Newtown, Connecticut. We have yet to have a single hearing on mental health, on gun safety, on background checks, on whether we limit the number of rounds in a magazine on military-style assault weapons. I rise today because in this bill there is substantive legislation, which I believe is out of order in an appropriations bill, that deals with tracing of guns used in crimes and the prohibition to use any information that might be gained from tracing guns used in crimes and any kind of study to figure out where these are coming from. And so I dare say that the Appropriations Committee held a hearing on gun safety or magazines or even on this tracing that's in the bill at section 514, pages 169 and 170. I believe, Mr. Speaker, this is a very important subject that this House has got to take up. It can't just be part of some appropriations bill where there's never been real testimony and where we have substantive legislation. So I appreciate the work that you have done on the appropriations piece, but I don't appreciate the piece where it's substantive legislation concerning gun safety.
