[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5944]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               GUN SAFETY

  (Mr. HIMES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, last week was a profoundly disturbing week 
for those of us from Connecticut and for Americans as a whole. When 
this body, when the institution of Congress failed to do anything to 
promote gun safety in the face of the tragedy at Newtown, this 
institution let the American people down.
  When a Senator on the Republican side with an ``A'' rating from the 
NRA and a Senator from the Democratic side with an ``A'' rating from 
the NRA put forward a background check measure that fails, we fail.
  Look, we can and we should debate what kind of weapons Americans 
should have a right to. We can and we should debate how many bullets 
can go into a magazine. There is no principled argument for why we 
should not check out someone who wants to buy a weapon. And yet, we 
couldn't make that argument in the Congress of the United States.
  So as a result, some time soon, a terrorist will buy a gun at a gun 
show. Some time soon, a violent felon will buy a gun online. And as a 
result, Americans will die. And this institution will bear the blame. 
This was not a proud moment, Mr. Speaker, for the Congress of the 
United States.

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