On the recordOctober 4, 2017
Just a few floors from here, I am in the Homeland Security Committee, and we are addressing issues dealing with the security of this Nation. And in my remarks on the legislation that we are dealing with, I expressed the pain of having this Congress come together in a bipartisan manner. I know a couple of sessions ago, we worked on a bipartisan border security bill. Sometimes America says enough is enough. They want us to work together. This morning I rise to mourn and stand with those families--58 of them--who are feeling now an unspeakable pain. They are questioning how their loved one could be at a joyous country music festival and be massacred. My hometown newspaper says it right: that the massacre in Vegas was an act of pure evil. Those of us who believe in this flag, whether we kneel, whether we stand as we pledge, we know that America is the greatest country in the world; but when she is hurting, it is important for this Congress to act. The comment that this is no time to discuss how we solve this unfettered violence, this massacre, this evil perpetrator, then that sentiment is a sentiment I hope will only be a small percentage of this body. We have tried over and over again in any manner that we could to discuss fairly the idea of gun safety legislation, not the diminishing of the Second Amendment, as some made the argument, that the kneeling, take a knee, or ``I kneel'' was a diminishment of the First Amendment.…
