‘We all agree that terrorists should not be able to purchase a weapon. That is not up for debate, and anybody who suggests that it is is simply misleading you. The question before us is whether we’re going to do so in a way that’s constitutional.’
‘My amendment is called the SHIELD Act, and it would stop terrorists from buying guns while ensuring law-abiding citizens placed on a watch list by mistake don’t have their rights taken away.’
‘The question before us couldn’t be clearer. We’re going to vote on two proposals that both stop terrorists from buying guns. One is it constitutional and one is not.’
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) spoke on the Senate floor in advance of a vote on his amendment to prevent terrorists from purchasing firearms while protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens on a watch list by mistake. Excerpts of his remarks and background on the Securing Our Homeland from Radical Islamists and Enhancing Law Enforcement Detection Act, or SHIELD Act, are below. Video can be found here.
“Terrorists should not have guns. The only difference between the Senator from California’s amendment and mine is that once the gun purchase was stopped under her amendment, the bad guy walks away.”
“In many ways, my friend from California’s amendment would not be as tough on the terrorists as mine would be.”
“We ought to be asking ourself if there are those in this Chamber and this body who believe you can deny American citizens their constitutional rights without due process of law based on a secret list that the government maintains.”
“My colleagues in many ways want to treat the symptoms without fighting the disease.”
“Under my amendment, the FBI would be immediately notified if anybody who was or had been on a watch list during the preceding five years. This would obviously escalate the investigation. The FBI could go to court, get a search warrant, get a wiretap upon appropriate legal showing, and get the sort of evidence necessary to detain – arrest in other words – the terrorists rather than just deny them access to a firearm. Because if they’re too dangerous to buy a firearm, they’re too dangerous to be loose on our streets.”
“We all agree that terrorists should not be able to purchase a weapon. That is not up for debate, and anybody who suggests that it is is simply misleading you. The question before us is whether we’re going to do so in a way that’s constitutional.”
“My amendment is called the SHIELD Act, and it would stop terrorists from buying guns while ensuring law-abiding citizens placed on a watch list by mistake don’t have their rights taken away.”
“We must advance commonsense legislation that defends ourselves against Islamic extremism, and my amendment, I believe, is a good place to start.”
“The question before us couldn’t be clearer. We’re going to vote on two proposals that both stop terrorists from buying guns. One is it constitutional and one is not.”