Harold Volkmer: “First of all, as chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary, I want to make sure everyone…”

“First of all, as chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary, I want to make sure everyone is aware that it is our intention to hold hearings in the next couple of months on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and on firearms issues generally, and on some of these alleged rights violations, which may be very real or maybe are not, but we are going to explore that. There will be opportunities, I would present, not only there but probably through legislation that will come out here on firearms in May or June that will give the Members the opportunity to debate all kinds of issues related to this. Second, what we are doing today, it needs to be stated what it is not, rather than what it is, sometimes. What it is not, it is not a relaxation of the fourth amendment protections against unlawful search and seizures. We are doing absolutely nothing in the underlying bill today that would in any way affect a person's right to be protected from unlawful search and seizure by police, BATF, or anybody else.”