Angie Craig: “Mr. President I have sat quietly by through the hours of last evening and listened to my colleagues debate a…”

“Mr. President I have sat quietly by through the hours of last evening and listened to my colleagues debate a sense-of-the-Senate resolution with great passion, and I respect them for their passion. I think all of us enter issues wanting to believe in them and trust they are the right thing to do. We saw an awful lot of moms on The Mall this weekend marching because they thought it was the right thing to do. They marched against violence, I trust. Some of them have had violence ravaged against them and their families, and they were here to speak out about that. Interestingly enough, underlying the march was a premise of gun registration and gun control. I think most Americans recognize while that is an important issue with violence, that does not solve the violence that takes away so many of our young people. That is why we are on the floor today. It is strange we find ourselves with such passion about something that will not count. A sense-of-the-Senate resolution is like walking outside and saying: It's pretty nice today, and tomorrow it will probably be better. But, of course, the Presiding Officer knows tomorrow it may not be better; it may be worse, weatherwise. In other words, just saying it does not make it so. A sense-of-the-Senate resolution is in itself a political point, a political expression. It is not substantive law. It is not intended to be. It is intended to make a political point. So what is the fuss about?”