Political Quotes

“today the American people are waiting with bated breath to see if this Congress stands with the American people in an assault weapons ban or stands with the special interests that are desperately trying to prevent this body from doing the will of the American people. Polls have shown that 77 percent of Americans want as assault weapons ban. Violence is in our streets, violence is in our cities and our towns, and yet we sit and wring our hands and do not react to it at all. In the killings on the Long Island Railroad, if that person did not have an assault weapon, many people would still be alive today. One percent of all privately owned firearms are assault weapons, yet they accounted for 8 percent of all firearms deaths last year, in 1993. These weapons are not for hunting or for legitimate sports purposes. They are only for one thing--to kill people, to be put in the hands of the unstable to kill people. The logic that somehow the fact that we are not banning all assault weapons means that we should not ban some escapes me. Mr. Speaker, the American people are watching. If we do not do what the American people want us to do in this instance, shame on us all.”