John Walsh

I want to thank you, Senator Feinstein, for your tireless efforts over the years to enact legislation to address the plague of gun violence in our country.

Our best estimate is that the ban contributed to a 6.7-percent decrease in total gun murders between 1994 and 1995 beyond what would have been expected in view of ongoing crime, demographic, and economic trends.

I have read the Heller opinion.

the Department of Justice's record of actually enforcing current gun laws, you will forgive my saying, is abysmal.

Senator, with respect to the first question as to whether or not we would prosecute people involved with medical marijuana for possessing firearms, the answer is yes, we have.

I could not disagree more strongly that the Department of Justice is not aggressively enforcing existing firearms laws.

We see a number of States, like Connecticut, for example, that have much more restrictive gun laws where some of these tragedies have occurred, and they have not stopped it.

I am certain that we will continue to work with the Committee and with Senator Feinstein in the course of this.

I think those are critical steps that will help us, frankly, keep the American people safer.

I think it is certainly dangerous, and I think that the point of today's hearing ... is that an AR-15 is a very dangerous weapon.

the Department strongly supports the goals of Senator Feinstein's bill to enact an assault weapons ban as well as a ban on high-capacity magazines.

the presence of armed guards in schools is not sufficient to prevent the kind of horrors that we have seen particularly in the last year.

We have limited resources. I know everyone in this room understands that the Federal Government, just like State and local authorities, has limited resources to address these things.

So if we ban assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, will we save lives? That is the real question.

If it is such an important issue, why are we not prosecuting people who fail a background check?

As a Senator, I have a responsibility to make informed decisions. We owe it to all Americans to address this complex and emotional issue with a healthy regard for reality and fidelity to the truth.

It is difficult to see how anyone could conclude that that is not a dangerous device when coupled ... with an assault weapon like an AR-15.

the evidence is not strong enough for us to conclude that there was any meaningful effect, i.e., that the effect was different from zero.

It begs a bigger question... When are we going to realize that certain people shouldn't have guns, can't have guns and that we have no mental health system in this country that would prevent this?

Well, first of all, I've got to say Charles Poland, Sr. is a real hero. He stood up to a man with a gun and saved -- we don't know how many countless kids because that low-life, whack-job Dykes wasn't going to come out of that bunker alive.

When are we going to realize that certain people shouldn't have guns, can't have guns and that we have no mental health system in this country that would prevent this?

I appreciate the opportunity to provide the Committee with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's perspectives.

My heart goes out to this family. I have to say to Shannon's parents, you can't give up looking no matter what the assumptions are. The one way to keep your child's story in the news and to put, you know, to put that loved one's case in…

The parents want answers. They need to know. The public needs to know and people are afraid.

I think they're stumped. I think they're being very honest with the parents. It's a very unusual case, Anderson. You have ten bodies.