Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding to me. Mr. Chairman, I rise to oppose H.R. 8, a bill that criminalizes gun transfers between law-abiding citizens who have no criminal record and no criminal intent. The bill includes several flawed and unworkable exceptions. Take the law enforcement exception. It allows the police to transfer a firearm, but criminalizes transfers to law enforcement. Under this bill, a parent whose child finds a gun in a park commits a Federal crime if the parent surrenders the gun to police. Under this bill, a citizen commits a Federal crime if they participate in a local gun buy-back program. Under this bill, an attorney commits a Federal crime when they turn a client's gun over to the police to clear the client through ballistics testing. Will criminalizing cooperation with law enforcement make us safer? The majority apparently thinks so, and I think it is crazy. The Democrats' bill gives special privileges to the bodyguards of the wealthy elite, like former Mayor Bloomberg, who is funding the special interest advocacy for this bill. He can afford to hire bodyguards. But average Americans, who rely on the Second Amendment as their source of personal protection, are not given similar protections. Nothing should be more offensive to this body than a bill that denies citizens their endowed rights while giving wealthy elites special protections, privileges, and dispensations. But that is H.R. 8.…”