Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator for the question. I just want to acknowledge we have had a number of House Members come to the floor of the Senate today to support our effort. Congressman Richmond, a good friend of mine and of Senator Booker, who has just witnessed the ongoing slaughter in New Orleans--unabated because of inaction from this Congress--has joined us. I have seen a number of other Members from the House join us as well. I thank them and I thank in particular my friend Representative Richmond for being here. I think that is a great question, Senator Brown, especially in the context of the history of the NRA's advocacy in this body. It used to be that the NRA actually supported expanding background checks. In the wake of the Columbine tragedy, it was the NRA that was arguing to close the loopholes in our background check system. So as a means of answering why we can't get agreements, you have to ask yourself and answer the question as to what has happened to the gun lobby. The gun lobby used to come here. It originated, of course, as just a gun safety organization. It morphed into much more of an advocacy organization. But even as late as the Columbine massacre, they were still arguing for changes in our laws to better protect individuals. Today they are an absolutist organization. Today they broker no compromise. Unfortunately, there is a large percentage of this body, enough to block commonsense legislation, that follows their lead.…”