Chuck Schumer: “the No. 1 question I was asked when I talked to my constituents on the phone last night and this morning is, why the…”

“the No. 1 question I was asked when I talked to my constituents on the phone last night and this morning is, why the heck would anyone oppose putting taggants, little tracers in explosives so that we can find those who commit terrorism. There is no good answer. There is no good substantive answer. There is a political answer. The reason this House is not going to address the issue of putting taggants, tracers explosives is three letters: NRA. We all know it is the right thing to do. In fact, at all the hearings our committee held, there were only two groups of people who were against putting these taggants in explosives. Those were either explosive manufacturers or the gun lobby. But the NRA is making a serious mistake here. The average gun owner does not agree with it. The average gun owner, who has a few hunting rifles or, in the city, carries a gun around for self-defense, they do not see that it is the NRA's business that explosives are tagged so we can find terrorists. Congress, get with it. Stand up to the NRA and let our law enforcement be able to trace explosives with taggants.”