I know how deeply personally affected he has been. And i guess i tell you why i am doing this as a means of telling you why senator blumenthal and i are doing this, and i tell it through a prism of a story that just awful, awful series of days following the shootings in sandy hook. Senator blumenthal and i went through the first of what were umpteen wakes and funerals, and we were standing in line at the first wake about to talk to the first set of parents who had lost in this case their young daughter, and i remember being so uncertain about what we were supposed to say to these parents, not just what you were supposed to say to provide some measure of condolence, but we were their elected representatives. We had some additional obligation to show them that we were ready to act, but was it too soon to make that offer . Was it not the right moment to suggest that there was a Public Policy response to the slaughter of their children . It was senator blumenthal that very gently and appro
Times to talk about the lives and the identities and the legacies of the people who have lost their lives to gun violence and the families that are there to remember them, and, you know, i remember so profoundly the massacre at newtown. Senator murphy brought photographs of all of the victims, their families, told their stories at length on this senate floor. As weeks and months persisted here in the United States senate, and no action was taken to do commonsense things to make access to these weapons more difficult, the senator from connecticut started coming to the floor and talking about some of the people that we dont read about because the media doesnt rush to the scene when somebody dies in a driveby shooting or in a place that doesnt garner the attention, the spotlight like the massacre and tragedy in orlando has garnered by the national media. So i i thank the gentleman from connecticut for his perseverance, and i am just so proud to join him this afternoon in this insistence f
Mr. Jolly i will tell you this is clear this is an individual who sought to be a terrorist and he achieved that. It is unfortunate. Law enforcement has done human work. Yeoman work. They were well aware of this individual. They had worked the case very hard, but obviously this is one that turned out with consequences that the nation will forever regret. Sought to anne who act to an act terror on the homeland. Reporter did they explain why . Mr. Jolly you have to ask Law Enforcement. [inaudible] the first question was about gun control and we will arrive as to what the right policies. We have lived through this for 20 years. The partisan solutions arent working. This is a week one nation mourning together and if we cant arrive at a consensus and reject this democratrepublican divide, we all lose, and we dishonor those who were lost. Shame on members of congress who use a tragedy in orlando to play politics. And thats on both sides of the aisle and shame on president ial candidates who d
They were addment and they were une adamant and they were unequivocal. We cant have moments of silence when we see americans perish. As robin kelly, republican from illinois, said we cant just think about americans lives that are lost when its Mass Shootings. Every day there is an american that is killed 30 people, 30 americans killed every day as a result of the use of weapons. And we need to stand up and the message was very clear in todays caurks. Members will stand todays caucus. Members will stand. We understand its important to express to the people of this country this moment of silence to let the families of the victims know we are thinking of them. By god, this is the peoples house, and if we cant stand up and then do something, then were in trouble. There are any number of things that could be done. Must do a better job identifying and checking the background of those who seek to buy weapons, especially assault weapons. We could ask people to pass the legislation that Mike Th
For example, should everyone who ever gets questioned by the fbi be on some sort of watchlist . We dont want to go that far. But we have to ask those sorts of questions. For me, you have to Pay Attention to the authorities that Law Enforcement and thelligence folsks have, resources they have. Part of the reason they close investigations is because they have to use those resources for a higher priority. Back to my daily week, and is important to tarnish isiss by defeating them there. And combating their ideology. Thoset it is harder for people who may have grievances, or anger, to plug into this ideology and think they are accomplishing something great. All of that has to be on our radar screen. With regard to the fbi investigation, d do you feel mr. Thornberry obviously, the fbi will go back and see if it could of been improved. My point is, there are a number of people who traveled back and forth to iraq and syria. That, there are those were radicalizing on the internet. There are onl