On the recordDecember 17, 2012
I rise, as many others have, to offer my deepest condolences to the children, families, and community of Newtown, Connecticut. They are enduring a terrible tragedy in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. But merely to offer condolence feels meaningless to me unless we also act to save other children and families and communities from a repetition of this same terrible tragedy. We in Congress must take action to keep assault weapons and high- capacity clips out of the hands of those who are so dangerous or deranged or deluded that they can snuff out the lives of innocents on a whim. I understand there is a constitutional right to bear arms--I know the lawyers here will debate the fine points of that constitutional protection--but if our talk does not take guns out of the hands of people who would murder children, then our condolences today are just empty words. We owe it to those who died. We owe it to children still alive. We must protect our families from this gun violence. ____________________
