Political Quotes

“I think that violence is terrible. And to the best of my knowledge any time it is invoked unlawfully, it involves a violation of constitutional rights. I am concerned about this amendment, and I speak in opposition to it. I think it is overly specific. I think it is restrictive of local and State authority and, frankly, I do not think it deals with the full spectrum of violence that needs to be addressed. Where is the language about schools? Where is the language about religious institutions and hate crimes? Where is the language about public housing complexes and the terrible crimes that have been taking place in those areas? What about shelters for abused women or other facilities? I think that the issue before us is adopting language that will be less restrictive in terms of the violence and interference with constitutional rights that it seeks to prevent and, furthermore, providing the broadest possible discretion to State and local law enforcement authority to take the preventive measures and actions that they feel are necessary. On principle, I have had a great deal of difficulty supporting the issue of an expanding Federal involvement in the area of crime.”