The Obama administration will not drop its pursuit of tougher gun laws, Vice President Joe Biden vowed Tuesday, warning lawmakers who opposed earlier gun legislation of political hell to pay.
“The country has changed,” Biden, the administration’s point person on gun control, said at an event at the White House. “You will pay a political price for not getting engaged with dealing with gun safety.”
Biden cited a “fundamental change in the political calculus” on guns, in which pro-gun control voters have mobilized, and will look to exact revenge against opposing lawmakers on Election Day.
“Look at those who voted no, and look at the pool results in their states immediately after they voted no,” he said
Biden: White House has not 'given up' on gun control - NBC Politics
I collected these quotes:
"People who own guns are essentially a "sickness on our souls" that must be "cleansed. ... Cleansing a sickness from our souls doesn't come easy. It's gruesome..." - John Morse,
Anti-gun Senator Mike Johnson (D-Denver) is quoted herein as saying this legislation is but a "starting place".
We must be able to arrest people before they commit crimes. By registering guns and knowing who has them we can do that... If they have guns they are pretty likely to commit a crime. - Mary Ann Carlson
Gun violence won't be cured by one set of laws. It will require years of partial measures that will gradually tighten the requirements for gun ownership, and incrementally change expectations about the firepower that should be available to ordinary citizens. - New York Times
Banning guns is an idea whose time has come. - Joseph Biden
I don't know why people carry guns. Guns kill people. - Michael Bloomberg
I don't think there is a Second Amendment right to own a gun. But I think it's a loser political issue. - James Carville
We are taking the law and bending it as far as we can to capture a whole new class of guns [to ban.] - Jose Cerda
We need much stricter gun control, and eventually we should bar the ownership of handguns except in a few cases. - William L. Clay
If the personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution inhibit the government's ability to govern the people, we should look to limit those guarantees. - Bill Clinton
If it was up to me, no one but law enforcement officers would own handguns... Richard Daley
You know I don't believe in people owning guns, only the police and military. And I'm going to do everything I can to disarm this state. - Michael Dukakis
I think you have to do it a step at a time and I think that is what the NRA is most concerned about, is that it will happen one very small step at a time, so that by the time people have "woken up" -- quote -- to what's happened, it's gone farther than what they feel the consensus of American citizens would be. But it does have to go one step at a time and the beginning of the banning of semi-assault military weapons, that are military weapons, not "household" weapons, is the first step." - Barbara Fass
The national guard fulfills the the militia mentioned in the Second Amendment. Citizens no longer need to protect the states or themselves. - Dianne Feinstein
If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them ... "Mr. and Mrs. America, turn 'em all in," I would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren't here. - Dianne Feinstein
In fact, only police, soldiers and, maybe, licensed target ranges should have handguns. No one else needs one. - Michael Gartner
And nobody is talking about taking guns away from hunters or sportsmen or banning all guns. Nobody is talking about that. - Al Gore :lamo
I think that we should ban so-called junk guns. I think we should ban assault weapons like the weapons used here [in Fort Worth], yes. I think that the kinds of weapons that have no legitimate use for hunting or the kind of weapon that a homeowner would use, I think they should be banned, yes, those kind of weapons." - Al Gore
Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA - ordinary citizens don't need guns, as their having guns doesn't serve the State. - Heinrich Himmler
I don't care about crime, I just want to get the guns. - Howard Metzenbaum
I am one who believes that as a first step the U.S. should move expeditiously to disarm the civilian population, other than the police and security officers, of all handguns, pistols and revolvers... no one should have a right to anonymous ownership or use of a gun. - Dean Morris
We are beyond the stage of restrictive licensing and uniform laws. We are at the point in time and terror when nothing short of a strong uniform policy of domestic disarmament will alleviate the danger which is crystal clear and perilously present. Let us take the guns away from the people. Exemptions should be limited to the military, the police and those licensed for good and sufficient reasons. - Patrick V. Murphy
I'm consistently on record and will continue to be on record as opposing concealed carry. - Barrack Obama
I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manufacturers lobby. - Barrack Obama
Forget what our forefathers said. - Dominick Potifrone
To hell with the constitution...- Mike Roos
Like flat earth fanatics, Second Amendment fanatics just don't get it. Facts are facts. The earth is not flat. And Constitutional law is Constitutional law. The Second Amendment is not absolute. It does not guarantee the mythical individual right to bear arms we will hear argued for today. - Charles Schumer
...the only people who use them [so-called assault weapons] are mass murderers... - Charles Schumer
The goal is an ultimate ban on all guns, but we also have to take step at a time and go for limited access first. - Joyner Sims
If someone is so fearful that, that they're going to start using their weapons to protect their rights, makes me very nervous that these people have these weapons at all! - Henry A. Waxman
