Washington D.C. – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand released the following statement today after the U.S. Senate voted down a number of gun safety measures:
“Today has been one of the most deeply disappointing days of my short time in the U.S. Senate. Families from coast to coast deserved better from this Congress. The Newtown parents who came to Washington to bravely tell their stories deserved better than this body turning their backs on them. The families of Aurora deserved better. The families of the more than 30 people who die at the hands of gun violence every single day in this country deserved better.
“Today was a missed opportunity to take comprehensive action towards ending senseless, deadly gun violence with truly common sense reforms that do nothing to infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of law abiding citizens.
“When 9 out of 10 Americans urge us to act on expanding background checks, and the majority of Americans urge us to get military style assault weapons and ammunition clips of the streets and we still can’t summon the political will to act, this body is more broken than ever before. When even a measure to end the flow of illegal weapons through gun trafficking rings that’s widely supported by law enforcement gets voted down on the Senate floor you have to wonder where common sense has gone in the Senate.
“Today was a setback, but we will continue the fight for these common sense laws aimed to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of criminals.”