“Today the Senate decided to continue to be an accomplice to domestic terror of all stripes – whether motivated by racism, homophobia, anti-immigrant bias, misogyny, pseudoreligous fervor, or violent psychopathology.
“Congress has given a thumbs up to mass murder for decades, with over 80 people dying each day from needless gun violence, by allowing easy access to dangerous assault weapons and refusing to require universal background checks.
“Majorities of Americans support both of these measures. The NRA’s argument against background checks – that they create a database that will be used to take away firearms from legitimate owners – has been proven false by decades of experience with the gun owner database created by the National Firearms Act.
“And the NRA’s propaganda that owning a firearm provides protection is dangerously wrong. In fact, possessing a firearm puts the owner and her family at far greater risk, with a firearm being 22 times more likely to kill or injure in domestic homicide, suicide or accident than it is to be used in self-defense.
“It’s time for the Senate, and for Congress as a whole to get on the right side of history. Unfortunately, it failed to pass the modest, minimal gun protections the American people are literally dying for.”
Jill Stein