On the recordJanuary 7, 2016
I thank the gentlewoman from New Jersey, and I thank her for guiding us over the past couple of minutes dealing with an important issue. Let me quickly move us forward because, in just a few minutes, the President of the United States will join with a number of Americans on a very important townhall meeting dealing with the question of this very important issue of gun violence. Today I rise as the ranking member of the Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary, but I rise also, as my colleague, as a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus that has been at the leadership. I thank both Chairman Grijalva and Chairman Ellison for their leadership and the opportunity for this time. Again, much was made of the fact that the President, in his last term, or his last year, sought to take on this very complicated issue. Much was made of the fact that the President chose gun violence as something that he took a personal and emotional interest in. Let me be very clear. There is never a time that is too short a time to confront the horrors of gun violence in this country. Let me give you simply an example of what we face not with adults who have confronted each other with a gun, but toddlers who are getting shot on a weekly basis. For example, a 2-year-old in South Carolina found a gun in the backseat of the car he was riding in and accidentally shot his grandmother, who was sitting in the passenger's seat.…
