WASHINGTON, DC - In remarks today on the floor of the United States Senate, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) expressed his condolences to the families of victims in last Friday's horrific massacre in Connecticut and called on Congress to honor their memory by finally passing common sense gun laws. Menendez has been a long-time supporter of gun safety measures, co-sponsoring several bills to outlaw assault weapons and high capacity clips and requiring mandatory background checks.
"I rise with a heavy heart at the senseless tragedy in Newtown, CT, on Friday. We were all shaken that day. We asked ourselves - Why? How could this happen in America? We grope for answers and we must find them. But today, I join with every American in expressing our deep and abiding grief as a nation and our deepest - most heartfelt -- condolences to the families of the victims.
"I'm the father of two, and -- as the father of two -- this strikes painfully close to my heart, painfully close to the heart of every parent. There is no greater sorrow - no deeper pain -- than the enormous grief that these families are suffering -- those 20 innocent children, 6 teachers and school employees and their families. No parent - NO PARENT -- should ever have to bear the unspeakable pain of losing a child, especially to this type of tragedy.
"M. President, all too often I have come to this floor having to say those same words - one tragedy after another - time and time again having to stand here and say our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of another tragedy involving gun violence, semiautomatic weapons, high capacity clips and the families of those victims who have lost loved ones to senseless, sick gun violence.
"But this time, this time, we are talking about children, elementary school children - the youngest most innocent among us being taken away. Enough is enough.
"Matthew 18 says: 'At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like the children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven...' The children have entered the kingdom of heaven today, and I hope we honor them and their memory in what we do now to end the violence.
"Let Newtown finally be the turning point when we are all willing to come together and do what's right. As we pray for the victims, let us commit ourselves -- as a nation -- to a long-overdue debate about violence, and guns, and how we deal with those who suffer mental illnesses in our society.
"And let us finally pass common sense gun laws. No more politics. No more excuses. We cannot allow this sort of senseless violence to continue. We need a national debate about the roles of firearms in society, we need to address mental health issues and we need to act immediately.
"This shooter had hundreds of rounds of ammunition-reportedly enough to kill everyone in the school--and had it not been for the brave first responders, there could have been even more tragic killings on Friday. These high capacity clips must be outlawed. I don't believe that there is any reason why a law-abiding citizen would need the capability to shoot multiple rounds like a 'street sweeper.'
"Words cannot express my sadness that another shooter used a weapon that has no legitimate purpose in a civilized society, using high-capacity 30 round clips that defy any reasonable use - and there are even greater capacity guns than this.
"I do not understand why the same type of weapon used by the DC sniper is still readily available. And I don't understand how we can see the same high-capacity clips used over and over again by maniacal murderers during these tragedies and not act. After Tucson, Aurora, and now Newtown we need to finally do something about these dangerous clips.
"We need to make sure that nobody with a criminal record or a mental illness can purchase a firearm, and that means we need a comprehensive mandatory background check system. And there is no use if my state of NJ has tough laws but guns come in our state from other states.
"I've cosponsored legislation to outlaw high capacity clips, improve our background checks and I'll support an assault weapons ban this next year, just as I have in the past.
"This doesn't need to be a political debate. This is about keeping little children safe in their first grade classroom. I'm for reasonable use of guns but first and foremost, I'm for protecting our children, our teachers and their families.
"That's our number one responsibility and if we can't do that, then shame on us."
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