voice in this discussion and i appreciate that. let me say, you know, pennsylvania has a long bipartisan tradition of supporting gun rights. and i ve been proud to be a part of that tradition and i continue to be. i m a gun owner and the rights that are enshrined in the second amendment are important to me personally as i know they are to so many people across pennsylvania. my record shows this, but i ve got to tell you candidly, i don t consider criminal background checks to be gun control. i think it s just common sense. if you pass a criminal background check, you get to buy a gun, no problem. it s the people who fail a criminal or mental health background check that we don t want having guns. now, in my time in public life, i ve not taken a very high-profile role on this issue. i spend most of my time and energy focusing on policies that will help generate economic growth and job creation and put
probably tomorrow, maybe as soon as today. but one thing that could make it hard is the nra just put out a press release, a statement knocking this down. not a surprise, but out there in black and white. expanding background checks at gun shows will not prevent the next shooting, will not solve violent crime, and will not keep our kids safe in schools. it goes on to make the point that the shootings in aurora, tucson and in newtown would not have been stopped with a background check. that the background check not having a background check was not an issue in any of those situations. so that is certainly what they re going to be up against. but, look, you heard both of these men who are historically not people who run towards curbing gun use say that this is absolutely necessary in order to at least take a baby step towards making sure that people who are criminals or mentally ill don t have guns. what i say, it s not
where there s some common ground. and i think we found it. and the common ground rests on a simple proposition, and that is that criminals and the dangerously mentally ill shouldn t have guns. i don t know anyone who disagrees with that premise. from either political party or whatever folks views might be on broader gun rights issues. so if we start with the notion that dangerous criminals and dangerously mentally ill people shouldn t have guns, the question is, how can we accomplish that? now, background checks are not a cure-all by any means, but they can be helpful. in a ten-year period from 1999 to 2009, 1.8 million gun sales were blocked by the current background check system because people were not qualified to own a gun. now, i ve supported background checks in the past, i support them now. they already exist, of course, for the purchase of guns from
us on a sustainable fiscal path. that has been my focus, it ll continue to by my focus. so let me explain to you why i m standing here today with senator manchin. i m here because over the last few months, several things became apparent to me. first is that gun legislation appeared destined to reach the senate floor. it s not something i sought, but it s inevitable. second thing is it became apparent that there are a number of gun control proposals that i think actually would infringe second amendment rights. and i will tell you categorically that nothing in our amendment prevents the ownership of guns by any lawful person. and i wouldn t support it if it did. but what also became apparent to me in the course of this debate, there was the danger that we might end up accomplishing nothing. and not making progress where we could. so that s when i started talking with senator manchin and senator kirk and others to see if we might be able to find a place
we have an agreement, pat and i have an agreement with senator kirk and senator schumer. we have an agreement to prevent criminals and the mentally ill and insane from getting firearms and harming people. that s extremely important for all of us. and also, we agree that we need a commission on mass violence. and this commission is going to be made up of people with expertise. people have expertise in guns, people have expertise in mental illness, in school safety and people have expertise in video violence. we have a culture of violence and we have a whole generation who basically has been desensitized. and if you go around and talk to the young people today, it just is what it is, and we ve got to find out how we can change and reverse that. we also need to protect legal gun owners. legal gun owners like myself and pat who basically cherish the second amendment rights that we have. and we have done that also. but today is just the start of a healthy debate that must end