Political Quotes

“Mr. President, reserving the right to object, let me concede that there are some laudable pieces to this legislation. It is not new to the body. As Senator Grassley mentioned, this is something that has received a vote. But in large part, it is a massive contraction of the universal background check system rather than what Americans support, which is an expansion of the background check system, and let me give you just two examples. In this legislation there would be a change in law, such that for individuals who are subject to psychiatric confinement, the minute they leave that confinement, they get their gun rights restored. That is not the existing law. The existing law says that if you are so mentally ill that you have had to be inpatient, you don't get those gun rights restored unless you petition. Second, this bill would say that for individuals who have been judged mentally incompetent--this is a regulatory term, not my term. But for individuals who have been determined mentally incompetent by a Federal Government Agency, they would have their gun rights restored. Right now, those individuals are not allowed to possess guns, but they would under this proposal. So this amendment, while it has some, I think, important pieces to it, in large part is a pretty massive contraction of the number of background checks that would be done in this country, and for that reason I would object. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard. The Senator from Iowa.”