Political Quotes

“The Senator also commented, and I want to reconfirm it, that one of the characteristics of these weapons is that even in semiautomatic mode, there is a high rate of fire, and the velocity of the rounds are such that they inflict extreme damage. So even if it is in a semiautomatic mode, you have the ability to deliver devastating fire, and coupled with a large magazine, you can keep this fire up. The other point is that changing the magazine on one of these weapons is a matter of seconds. It is not a laborious task where you have to individually load rounds into the weapon. That, too, I think increases the lethality. Again, if the Senator would comment and concur, the adoption by the military had a logical military purpose--to increase the lethality of the weapons that we are giving to the soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen of the United States. That is not, I don't think, what you and I would like to see in our civilian population--weapons for which the primary purpose is increased lethality. It is not accuracy, necessarily, not for a skill in terms of marksmanship, but simply increased lethality. Is that the sense that you have?”