Political Quotes

“today, the Senate is considering bipartisan legislation to help protect our kids and our communities from the scourge of gun violence. This is a critical issue. And it is one we have spent a lot of time on in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which I chair. We have held nine hearings in our committee in the 117th Congress to discuss ways to address our Nation's gun violence epidemic. Four of those hearings were held in the Constitution Subcommittee, which is chaired by Senator Blumenthal, and I want to commend him for the subcommittee's focus on important issues like red flag laws, ghost guns, safe storage, and gun violence by domestic abusers. And we have held five hearings in the full Judiciary Committee, where we have heard testimony from witnesses on how to reduce violence. I am pleased that the bipartisan bill before us includes a number of measures that witnesses before the Judiciary Committee urged the Senate to adopt. Last December, the Judiciary Committee held a field hearing in Chicago to discuss the firearms trafficking that floods the city with illicit guns. We heard testimony from David Brown, superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, who pointed out that 93 percent of murders in Chicago last year were committed by guns. Superintendent Brown testified that we need strong Federal laws to crack down on gun trafficking and straw purchases, which fuel Chicago's gun violence. And the bill before us today provides those laws.…”