Political Quotes

“I want to commend him on his opening remarks because I think he was right on target when he stated this was one of the most misleading pieces of legislation that this body has ever undertaken. We are being led to believe that by passing this bill you are going to reduce crime and you are going to stop people from killing people. Mr. Chairman, there is nothing further from the truth. Right here in this city of Washington, DC, there was an outrage. People were furious about murders that were going on in the 1970s. So in 1977 they passed the toughest gun control laws in the Nation. In this city one could not even own a hand gun. But yet from 1980 to 1993 there were 4,200 homicides. Murders tripled in this city. Out of that 4,200 homicides I ask, 'Do you know how many of those deaths were caused by semiautomatic weapons?' Four. Mr. Chairman, I say to my colleagues, 'You are not going to stop people from killing people by passing this law. The answer is tougher punishment.'”