I thank the Senator from Washington. Before yielding to the Senator from Michigan, let me note there are a number of House Members who have joined us on the floor. I thank them for their support in our effort to force a debate and…

I say to Senator Blumenthal, I don't think there is any more I can offer in answer. You are correct that it is both ironic and outrageous. I yield to the Senator from Maryland for a question without losing my right to the floor.

I thank Senator Blumenthal. I think that is critically important here. I would answer it in two ways. The first is to underscore your point. Our Nation's set of State- based firearms regulations are only as strong as the weakest link. We…

I know the Senator from Maryland is on the floor, but I yield to the Senator from Connecticut for a question.

I thank the gentleman for joining us on the floor today. I think that is really what this is about--not being able in our heart of hearts to go back to our States, especially those that have been touched by these crimes, and tell them that…

I think people in my State are shocked that this isn't already law. I think at some level people don't understand why this hasn't been baked into the background system as it is. As you know, this is just simply not a controversial issue…

Through the Chair to my friend, it is important to remember that there is consensus in this body that those individuals shouldn't fly. There is nobody who has come to the floor of the Senate and has proposed a law that we should take all…

No one in Connecticut thought this was taking their rights away, and as the Senator from West Virginia knows, we have a strict background check system in Connecticut already, so in Connecticut we had already subjected these sales to the…

I would be interested in the Senator's reaction when I answer his question, and then he can ask another question to follow up. People are going to say that Connecticut and West Virginia are very different States, and they are. There are a…

I thank the Senator for his lifelong leadership on this question. I feel as though I am in a caucus of giants here, where people are coming down to the floor--from Senator Durbin to Senator Schumer, to Senator Blumenthal--who have all been…

I yield to the Senator from New York for a question without losing my right to the floor.

I think that is a very important point, and I thank the Senator for making it. Let's be honest. The American people support the proposal that is in the underlying Feinstein legislation. The American people support the underlying…

Thank you, Senator Blumenthal, and I want to thank you for your work on the Judiciary Committee for leading this fight to try to make sure that law enforcement has what it needs to protect this country. Again, I spoke to this broader…

I thank the Senator. It is a glaring loophole, and it is unclear why it has persisted. This idea of closing the loophole has been backed by both Democratic and Republican administrations, and I think the Senator talked about how this has…

I thank the Senator for the question because of course this is a global fight against terrorism. This is not a battle that can be waged by one country and one country alone. The Senator is right that we are right now calling on our allies…

I thank the Senator. The Senator from Illinois, like Senator Blumenthal, has been a leader and a hero on this issue since before I got to the Senate, and he is exactly right. The state of this Nation is not just this repeated story line of…

I thank the Senator from Nebraska for his question. There is something called the consolidated watch list, which is an amalgam of a number of different databases. As the Senator understands, one of them is the no-fly list. The legislation…

I thank my colleague for his question. I think this is a question people throughout this country are asking today: Why are these measures we are asking for consensus on today so controversial in the Senate when they are not controversial…

I thank my colleague for the question, and I want to reiterate the nature of our partnership that he underscored. He and I were there together in Newtown in that firehouse hours after that shooting, and we have spent probably hundreds of…

That is true. I thank the Senator for making that patently clear. What we are suggesting here is that the way we can come together in this body is around the simple premise that individuals with serious criminal records, individuals who…

These are measures that can save lives. Facts have changed. We have seen over and over again the carnage that comes by allowing these loopholes to persist. Yes, we have had debates on this floor, but we have had debates and taken votes on…

When you present these issues to the American public, they scratch their heads, or they scratch their heads because they assume already that individuals on the terrorist watch list cannot buy guns. They think it is absurd that we passed a…

It is a wonderful subtext to all of the rhetoric that comes from the gun lobby and the NRA that there is this secret agenda to essentially get the camel's nose under the tent through an expansion of background checks or a restriction on…

Whereas the First Amendment doesn't place the condition into the text--they are read into it--the Second Amendment has conditions in the literal text.

I haven't memorized portions of the Constitution as well as Senator King has, but he very eloquently stated for us the preamble of the Constitution, which commits us first and foremost to preserve domestic tranquility and to protect the…