Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator from Michigan for asking the question that is the crux of this debate. It is our responsibility to do everything within our power to protect Americans from terrorist attacks. The reality is, terrorist attacks can come in many different forms, but recently it has been coming through one form; that is, firearms, and often very lethal, military-style firearms. So it is our duty to do everything possible to protect Americans from that new trend in terrorist attacks. The Senator is right. The answer to the question is, simply putting suspected terrorists on the list of those prohibited from buying weapons is not enough because 40 percent of gun sales today are not happening in places where background checks are conducted. We have to do both. It is not a secret that someone can go online to arms lists and easily get a weapon in minutes without having to go through a background check. It is full of holes like Swiss cheese. There is limited utility in passing an inclusion for people on the terrorist watch list for those prohibited from buying weapons unless we do the secondary bill we are asking for. As Senator Durbin and I have talked about a number of times this afternoon, expanding background checks also has a double benefit of addressing this secondary epidemic of urban gun violence, which is often perpetrated by individuals who have illegal weapons.…”