On the recordMay 7, 2013
let me first associate myself with the comments of the Senator from Maryland. We are engaging in a bit of theater of the absurd on the floor of the Senate, as we have been chided for years now that the Senate would not and could not adopt a budget. Having finally done that, Republicans are refusing to allow us to move forward with the process that would finally get us out of this crisis-by-crisis mentality and do what the American people have wanted us to do for a long time, which is to sit across the table with Republicans, two parties in one room, with the TV cameras on, trying to find some settlements, somewhere where 70 percent of the American public can find agreement with us. Gun Control I am here, though, to turn back the clock about 3 weeks to another day that I would argue is amongst the saddest this Chamber has seen in a long time. That was the day in which we went against the wishes of 90 percent of the American public and refused to adopt a measure that would have applied background checks to the vast majority of gun purchases in this country, that they also would have for the first time made gun trafficking, illegal gun trafficking, a Federal crime. During those days I came down to this floor four or five times to tell the stories of victims, the victims of Sandy Hook, but also the victims of, frankly, countless other mass shootings and routine gun violence mainly in our urban corridors.…
