Frank Lautenberg: “I make particular point of this horrible murder because it strikes a chord in all of us of our disappointment in the…”

“I make particular point of this horrible murder because it strikes a chord in all of us of our disappointment in the violence that threads our society, whether it is a young kid like this out to take a car or another youngster out to take a jacket--a senseless killing. Or like the killing recently here in Washington, DC, a 15-year-old boy, apparently a nice young man, good student, in trying to defend an argument between his younger sibling and another child-- stabbed to death. Mr. President, I ask a question that must go on in every home in everyone's mind in America: When will we stop this violence? How do we stop it? We sure do not stop it by a vote in the House of Representatives that says, ``Take away the ban on assault weapons. Let them have their assault weapons. That is part of freedom in America.'' That is nonsense. If I was not on public record I would use other words, perhaps, to describe it--to make sure that people could get their hands on weapons that are designed to kill people. That is what the vote was over there--some 230 votes for, and against, 170. I fought in World War II, Mr. President. I was no war hero, but I carried a weapon that could fire less shots than these assault weapons.”