Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Senator Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, made the following statement after the Senate voted on a series of amendments related to the pending gun legislation. Grassley offered an amendment with Senator Ted Cruz that would reauthorize and improve the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, increase resources for prosecutions of gun crime, address mental illness in the criminal justice system, and strengthen criminal law by including straw purchasing and illegal firearm trafficking statutes. The amendment failed to gain 60 votes, but gained the votes of nine Democrats and all but two Republicans. No amendment gained the necessary 60 votes for passage. A summary of the Grassley/Cruz bill can be found here.
"Our amendment gained the most bipartisan support of any comprehensive package that has been offered. The Senate Majority and the President should now turn to our amendment as the path forward. It's a sensible alternative that was developed from the ground up in the Senate. It's got wide-ranging, broad-based support and takes a responsible approach to addressing some of the problems we've seen, all while protecting Second Amendment rights."
