Angie Craig: “the actions that have just taken place have put us on S. 397, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Earlier…”

“the actions that have just taken place have put us on S. 397, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Earlier this morning, I submitted for the Record some now 67 cosponsors, which demonstrates that this bill is clearly very bipartisan legislation, supported by a Republican and Democrat majority in the Senate. The actions the leader has just taken to file cloture would allow the cloture motion to ripen by as early as 1 a.m. Friday morning. Amendments have just been filed by the leader, and we will begin the process of debate on this important legislation. With that in mind, if this bill and this debate seem familiar to any of us, it should, because the Senate debated a very similar measure a little over a year ago. At that time, we had a full debate over a number of days. It is worth noting that the Senate defeated every amendment addressing the actual substance of the bill. However, opponents succeeded in attaching a couple of unrelated poison-pill amendments that ultimately caused the bill to fail. The need for this legislation is very real. Over the course of yesterday and today, some of us have expressed what we believe is the urgency of this legislation. The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act would stop junk lawsuits that attempt to pin the blame and the cost of criminal behavior on businesspeople who are following the law and selling a legal product.…”