[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 52 (Wednesday, April 17, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H2076]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 SUPPORT BACKGROUND CHECKS ON GUN SALES

  (Mr. YARMUTH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. YARMUTH. Mr. Speaker, this is what my constituent, Barbara Kelty, 
wrote to the Louisville Courier-Journal this morning:

       While polls continue to say that a majority of NRA members 
     and a sizable majority of the American people support 
     background checks and a majority of citizens support limiting 
     magazine size, a majority in Congress at this point 
     apparently does not favor either.
       How can that be? To me, it is evident that these Members of 
     Congress do not feel obligated to us, the people who elected 
     them, whom they represent. Rather, they feel beholden to the 
     gun lobby which fattens their campaign chests. And it is 
     obvious that the gun-making industry, which does not condone 
     or support gun violence, benefits from the emotional rush of 
     citizens exercising the right to buy protection for their 
     families after these tragedies.
       We, the citizens, must do our bit to lobby Congress and 
     remind them that our will takes precedence.

  Ms. Kelty is right. In Kentucky, three out of four people support 
background checks for every gun sale. More than 90 percent of the 
American people, and three-quarters of NRA members, support background 
checks, which have stopped nearly 2 million people from illegally 
buying guns. Still, 40 percent of guns are purchased without a 
background check.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues in the Senate to listen to the vast 
majority of Kentuckians and the American people and support background 
checks.

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