It's no secret that I have always believed that law abiding citizens should be able to own firearms for both sport and self-defense. Like many New Mexicans, I own guns for those very purposes.
However, as a parent, I couldn't watch the events at Sandy Hook last year and not be deeply affected. Too many of us have had friends or family touched by senseless shootings. We owe it to the American people to take real action to reduce the violence in our communities.
The Senate voted today to begin debate on and consideration of the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013. This bill includes pragmatic public safety measures that the vast majority of Americans-including gun owners-can embrace. I've said that I'll base my support for any legislation on whether it can realistically reduce the violence while still protecting the constitutional right to bear arms. This proposal meets that standard.
Keeping guns out of the hands of people legally prohibited from having them is a common-sense way to prevent violence without punishing law abiding gun owners. That's what background checks do, and having been through the background check process myself on numerous occasions, I know it is not an unreasonable burden on responsible gun owners. There is no reason that firearm sales made on the internet or at a gun show shouldn't meet that same common-sense standard.
I also support cracking down on illegal gun trafficking. If you buy a firearm in order to pass that firearm on to a criminal, you should face federal prosecution.
Prioritizing mental health services is another key component to keeping our families safe. I'll continue working to ensure that our schools, families, and communities have the tools they need to support the mental health of our kids.
AND MY RESPONSE, WHICH IS SLIGHTLY EDITED FROM THE ONE TO UDALL:
I
asked you a very specific question: how
do you propose to make “universal background checks” work without utterly
repudiating the Bill of Rights. You responded
by invoking the recent mass murders, especially of children, clearly in the
belief that it gives you absolute free rein to do anything you wish, as long as
it “…saves even one child.” Then you
went into the familiar litany about commercial sales at gun shows and undocumented
internet sales.
Here’s
a newsflash for you, Senator: all
commercial sales, at gun shows and otherwise, have been subject to background
checks for years. I have purchased guns
at shows, and I assure you, I went through the background check. As for internet sales, they have been illegal
for decades, along with mail order sales, thanks to the Democrat frenzy over
Lee Harvey Oswald’s mail order purchase of a rifle he could have had at any
hardware store for $30.00. That was in 1968, I believe, and we all know how
effective it was in combating crime.
At
every opportunity, you equate crime control to gun control, with phrases like, “common
sense,” and “bipartisan” thrown in, evidently under the impression that such
phrases grant absolution to your misbegotten ideas. Well, Sir, they do not. Common sense is getting more rare by the day,
and I guarantee you the common sense of murdering gang-banger on the border is
not the common sense of a homeowner who might be facing him in a gunfight. As for bi-partisan, don’t make me puke. Today’s Republican party is as filled with traitors
and quislings as is the Democratic party.
Bipartisan just means you got a bunch of other snakes to go along with
you.
Will
you answer my question, Senator? How will
you implement universal background checks without eliminating most of the Bill
of Rights?
By the way, Sir, I noticed that you did not vote for the UN arms control treath, and for that, I most sincerely thank you! I believe a vote for that treaty would have been an act of treason.
REBSARGE
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