Marlin Stutzman: “I appreciate each Member coming down tonight to talk about this. This is a very important issue. I am hearing from my…”

“I appreciate each Member coming down tonight to talk about this. This is a very important issue. I am hearing from my constituents back in northeast Indiana every day on the concern that they have about the President's actions. I would like to share just a statistic, that we know that national crime rates, violent crime and gun crime, have both dropped over the last 2\1/2\ decades. I think that is a positive sign that we should all be encouraged about and that we continue to work together to make sure that violent crime and gun crime is eliminated in this country. In 2013, the national crime rate was about half of what it was at its height in 1991. Violent crime had fallen by 51 percent since 1991 and property crime by 43 percent. In 2013, the violent crime rate was the lowest since 1970. Compared with 1993, the peak of U.S. gun homicides, the firearm homicide rate was 49 percent lower in 2010 and there were fewer deaths, even though the Nation's population grew. The victimization rate for other violent crimes with a firearm, assault, robberies, and sex crimes, was 75 percent lower in 2011 than in 1993. Violent, nonfatal crime victimization overall, with or without a firearm, also is down markedly, 72 percent over the past two decades. As one of the former Members mentioned, if you look at the city of Chicago, which has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, it has a huge problem with gun violence in that city.…”