Only institution in america charted by congress to disseminate of the u. S. Constitution on a nonpartisan basis. Beautiful. So great to hear those wonderful words who arent spying Mission Statements here in the beautifully renovated kimble theater. And just a few months ago we opened up this gorgeous new space, renovated with a great interpreter you or hear me hearing me from the stateoftheart cool ted top microphones and beautiful new seats. What a thrill to see so many people here to celebrate the opening of the return of our great exhibit, american spirits. applause i want you to go see it after the show if youve not seen it yet. Cspan viewers, i want you to come to philadelphia to see this beautiful exhibit which tells an amazing constitutional story that we are going to talk about tonight. That is the constitutional story that poses an incredible question. How did it happen . How did it happen . That america voluntarily hookup by a vote of 46 states and only two states the same th
The committee of the judiciary will come to order. Without objection the chair is authorized declare recesses at any time. We welcome everyone to this mornings hearing on protecting america from assault weapons. I will now recognize myself with an Opening Statement. Assault weapons have been repeatedly used of weapons of deadly violence on our citizens. In the last two years, las vegas, parkland, pittsburgh, midland and odessa have seen Mass Shootings at the hands of an gunman with assault weapons. Last month we added el paso and dayton to the list of communities to experience violence. Todays hearing is about whether america will tolerate weapons of war in our streets and neighborhood. Civilian assault weapons are just semi automatic versions of military weapons. They have no purpose but to kill as many as possible as quickly as possible. By allowing killers to rapidly fire targets without stopping to reload, assault weapons are designed for bloodshed. State laws have proven too easy