Political Quotes

“Madam President, let me thank, once again, my colleagues for being on the floor with us this evening, for the compelling testimony of Senator Schatz, Senator Casey, Senator Brown, Senator Van Hollen, and so many others who have joined us this evening. We have a few more who will come down later in the evening. I want to take a moment to put a face on this issue. There are 100 Americans who are killed every day by guns. The majority of these are suicides, but many are homicides, and many are accidental shootings and domestic homicides. Shootings in this country happen at a rate 10 times that of any other high-income nation. This is a uniquely American epidemic. Senator Schatz very aptly pointed out that it can't be because of mental health because we have no more mental illness in this country than any other nation does. It can't be because of lack of law enforcement resources; we spend just as much money, if not more, on law enforcement than any other country in the world. It is not because we put less money into treatment for mental illness; we put more money, on a per capita basis, than other nations do. To explain our abnormally high rate of gun violence--10 times that of other high-income nations--you have to tell a story of the proliferation of dangerous weapons, of the ability of almost anyone, regardless of their criminal history or their history of mental illness, to get their hands on a weapon.…”