Political Quotes

“I rise today to oppose the assault weapons bill. My belief is that the measure pending before us today will do little if anything to halt the very real problem of crime in this country. The weapons that are identified in this legislation are involved in only a very small percentage of crimes. In fact, the Bureau of Justice statistics reported in 1993 that violent criminals use a ``military-type gun'' in only 1 percent of crimes nationwide. Rather, this legislation is an attempt to provide a fig leaf to those in this body who do not want to see real crime control measures put into place. The Rules Committee has disallowed an amendment that would have imposed mandatory minimum sentences on those using guns in the commission of a violent felony or drug crime as an alternative to this measure. Just a few weeks ago the House defeated measures that would have made a real difference in the fight against crime--measures like requiring States to ensure that no less than 85 percent of convicts' sentences are served in order to obtain Federal prison construction grants, allowing the use of evidence that is obtained in good faith but thrown out of court due to technicalities, and reforming our Nation's habeas corpus laws to prevent endless death sentence appeals. The fact is this bill is little more than a feel-good band-aid for politicians who want to say they're tough on crime but are afraid to be tough on the criminals.”