Political Quotes

“this Nation has simply dealt with too much-- too much--loss during these last few months. Once again I offer my condolences to the families who joined us here yesterday to honor the loved ones they lost to gun violence and to lobby for stronger background checks. The mothers and fathers of the murdered children from Newtown were here, family and friends of those who were injured and killed in Aurora, CO, were here. We had people here from the tragedy where 32, 33 people were killed in Blacksburg, VA, at Virginia Tech. They were here yesterday. We knew the effort to keep America's streets safe from gun violence would not be easy. I commend Senator Manchin and others for setting aside partisanship to negotiate this compromise. Unfortunately, even though we got a strong, strong majority vote--well over 50--55 Senators voted in favor of this. And Frank Lautenberg came. He had not been here for a while. He has been ill. He voted. We voted with a strong majority to change things here in America so that people who have serious mental illness would have to have a background check before they can buy a gun or that criminals would have to have a background check before they can buy a gun. Even people who are selling the guns think there should be some background check.…”