I do not believe in taking away the right of the citizen for sporting, for hunting and so forth, or for home defense. But I do believe that an AK-47, a machine gun, is not a sporting weapon or needed for defense of a home.
The so-called assault weapons ban is a hoax. It is a political appeal to the ignorant. The guns it supposedly banned have been illegal for 78 years. Did the ban make them 'more' illegal? The ban addresses only the appearance of weapons, not their operation.
High taxes on guns and strong restrictions on their availability are the only realistic hope for avoiding many more Sandy Hooks.
It doesn't matter if gun violence is down. We need to get guns and bullets and automatic weapons off the streets.
We must permanently reinstate the Assault Weapons Ban and the restrictions on high capacity magazines.
I constantly hear from residents throughout my community about the need for common sense action in Congress to reduce gun violence.
People should remember that in the 2000s, the gun lobby got a lot passed: they got riders added to appropriations bills. They got immunity for the gun industry. They successfully managed the expiration of the assault weapons ban.
The vast majority of Americans are asking for common-sense legislation to protect our families, our friends, and our communities from gun violence.
Passing a law like the assault weapons ban is a symbolic - purely symbolic - move in that direction. Its only real justification is not to reduce crime but to desensitize the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate confiscation.
Our supportfor assault weapons ban is very broad...I think we've got all the police, we have all the mayors virtually - the conference of mayors, mayors against guns. We have medical experts, we have virtually dozens of religious organizations of every creed supporting us. We have just lists and lists.
The Brady Act was passed in response to what Congress described as an 'epidemic of gun violence.'
If I were a betting man, the odds are that Obama's White House and Justice Department will double down on their gun-control agenda by edict.
Hillary Clinton has spent those decades before her time in public office and since her time in public office advocating for common sense measures to fight gun violence.
As President Obama is inaugurated for a second time, the biggest political surprise is that gun control is now key to his political legacy.
Waco was supposed to be a way for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and the Clinton administration to prove the need for a ban on so-called assault weapons.
When I think about our babies today and them not being safe in school, I think that should be the next civil rights movement, you know, is to ban the assault weapons so that our babies can be safe.
I think that there should be an assault weapons ban.
I am for the Second Amendment, but I am for common-sense gun legislation.
I'd like to see a comprehensive gun control bill brought to the floor, but if we have to do it in several votes, that's fine, too. But give us the vote. Let us make our case to our colleagues on the floor and have a vote.
The fights I fought... cost a lot --the fight for the assault-weapons ban cost 20 members their seats in Congress. The NRA is the reason the Republicans control the House.
I will consider my time in the Senate a failure if we don't pass some meaningful legislation to reduce the likelihood that Sandy Hook ever happens again.
I work tirelessly advocating for gun violence prevention and promoting common-sense gun laws that could spare other parents the pain of having their child taken by senseless gun violence - laws the NRA's leadership has fought against relentlessly.
I can understand that if you have sold arms to the ayatollah why you might not be quite as sensitive to the need to get assault weapons off our streets.
You have deranged people throughout the country unfort unately, and they are part of the problem. …I see no reason to have a Bushmaster (assault weapon) in the hands of a deranged person.
