I think we should continue to respect and protect the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens.

I think that may actually be an area of potential bipartisan cooperation.

Thank you for coming. Thank you for standing for your lost loved ones.

I think that is due in part to vigorous enforcement, getting guns out of the hands of violent criminals.

What you are focusing on doing, which is bringing the criminal laws to bear, stopping and punishing violent criminals, is critically important, and I commend you for that service.

twice given the opportunity to answer is there any empirical basis for the proposition that strict gun control would reduce violence, twice you have not been able to give an example of that.

Heller actually went further than that and enumerated some specific examples: namely, a ban on felons possession firearms Heller said was permissible under the Second Amendment.

To my mind, that data suggests that allowing law-abiding citizens to arm themselves, and in particular protecting the right of women to protect themselves, is an important safeguard against violent offenses.

Constitutional rights are designed to be protected not just when they are popular.

I would urge anyone interested in assessing what the proper standard is for protecting our right to keep and bear arms to watch Ms. Hupp's testimony

Are you aware of any serious empirical basis for the proposition that significantly restricting the rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms actually results in reducing violent crime?

the core of which was to keep an operable firearm in the home for the purpose of self-defense.