[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17834]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     EXTEND THE ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN

  (Mr. ROTHMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROTHMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to call on the House 
Republican leadership to allow us to vote on H.R. 2038 and H.R. 3831, 
which would allow us to decide whether we should let the assault 
weapons ban stay in effect or disappear from America.
  This Monday, September 13, the assault weapons ban will expire, 
unless the House Republican leadership allows us to vote on whether to 
keep it in effect or let it expire.
  Madam Speaker, the second amendment to the United States Constitution 
allows individuals to own firearms. The question is, where do we draw 
the line? Should people be allowed to have shoulder-fired rocket 
launchers that down airplanes? Of course not. Well, you do not need a 
20-round-a-minute assault weapon to take down a deer.
  Madam Speaker, I ask the House Republican leadership to allow this 
Congress to allow us to vote on whether we should extend the assault 
weapons ban or should we just, because they will not let us vote, have 
it expire. The assault weapons ban works. Since it went into effect, 
these crimes have gone down 66 percent.

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