Political Quotes

“I thank my friend and colleague, Congresswoman Esty, for leading this Special Order hour and for yielding to me. Mr. Speaker, I will never forget the Sandy Hook tragedy that happened 5 years ago tomorrow. It was like yesterday. I was at Harvard University. I was seated next to Congresswoman Esty when the news broke about the shooting in the district she had just been elected to serve. The more we learned that day, the more devastating and heartbreaking the news became. Innocent children were taken away from their parents, from their brothers and sisters, and from their community. I hoped and prayed that day that we would never see a tragedy like Sandy Hook. But, of course, our country continues to be unique in the number of people we have lost to mass shootings and gun violence. As a Member of Congress, I cannot stand by and allow our communities to continue to be upturned by the loss of innocent lives. There are too many things we can do to address this epidemic. We should allow Federal agencies to study gun violence as a public health crisis, because it is. We should keep guns out of the hands of individuals on the terrorist watch list and those convicted of hate crimes. We should close the gun show loopholes, Mr. Speaker, and reinstate the assault weapons ban. You will note that none of the proposals I just mentioned would in any way infringe on the Second Amendment or limit the ability of Americans to protect themselves or their families.…”