Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I thank the Senator for his question. I will just remind him and others that this concept of the Second Amendment that my friend has offered is embedded in the Heller decision. The Heller decision itself--and Senator King chided me for referring to the majority opinion in that decision by Justice Scalia earlier--says very specifically that though the majority holds that there is an individual right to own a gun, that right is absolutely not absolute. He actually gives specific examples in the majority decision of ways in which you can condition that right in order to affect the public safety, like for instance, restricting the types of weapons that are bought or restricting guns and firearms from individuals who are deemed dangerous. This isn't theoretical. This is the law and the interpretation of the Second Amendment as determined by this Court. On this question of inconsistency, let's just keep it packed into the question of the terrorist watch list. I have not heard one of my Republican colleagues come down to the floor and defend the right of those on that list to get into any airplane they want and travel anywhere in the world. There is no one who has done that, nor will they, and that is because of this inconsistency--this inconsistency in which the absolute protection of Second Amendment rights is treated in a fundamentally different way than the protection of other rights.…”