Political Quotes

“I rise to speak on the potential repeal of the Social Security Administration's rule that helps keep guns out of the hands of those with a severe mental illness. I voted no. First, I want to point out that this rule only addresses a shortcoming in the existing background check law that Congress passed legislation to address. We use the National Instant Criminal Background Check system to prevent criminals and the adjudicated mentally ill from purchasing firearms. In order for the FBI to have access to all the data they need to run those background checks, Congress passed the NICS Improvement Act in 2007--in bipartisan fashion, signed into law by President George W. Bush, hardly a gun safety activist--to instruct Federal agencies to send information to the NICS system about criminal records and mental illness. This rule at the Social Security Administration is simply implementing that bipartisan law. Second, let me underscore the point, this rule only applies to those who have severe mental health disorders, like schizophrenia. These are folks who, because of their disorder need assistance managing their own affairs and are so severely impaired that they cannot hold down a full- time job. It simply requires the Social Security Administration to pass that data on to the NICS background check system so the FBI can stop gun sales to the seriously mentally ill. It doesn't get much more common sense than that.…”