'Really Shocking': Glenn Ivey Calls Out 'Irony' Of GOP Opposition To Gun Control During Police Week

5 months ago

During remarks on the House floor last week, Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) called out his Republican colleagues for supporting police officers while opposing gun control.

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Transcript

00:00I thank my colleague for yielding. I must say, you know, Police Week was something

00:09that, when I was a prosecutor at the federal level and at the state level, was

00:13something I looked forward to. I worked closely with police officers, local, state,

00:18and federal. They worked together as brothers and sisters in coordination

00:24with prosecutors. In many instances, they had task forces where the federal and

00:30local worked together, knowing that that was the way that made them most

00:34effective. So it was deeply disappointing to see the bills that came through this

00:39week that are supposed to be honoring police officers for Police Week, and some

00:45of these came through the Judiciary Committee beforehand, which I sit on. And

00:50so I raised objections at the time with respect to this legislation, which was

00:54ignored. And so it's with a heavy heart, frankly, that I rise today, because I

01:00think it's very clear. I think one of the Republican speakers a few minutes ago

01:05noted that, I think he said, 370 police officers have been shot, and it's clear

01:12that one of the greatest dangers police officers face on the street is from guns.

01:17And so the irony of the fact that the legislation that the Republicans have

01:22proposed do nothing about guns, in fact don't even mention them in most cases, is

01:28really shocking. Now my colleague from Massachusetts just mentioned a few

01:31minutes ago the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, HR 715, and he noted that the

01:37sponsor of that is a Republican, but he's the only Republican to join this bill.

01:43The other of the 207 co-sponsors are all Democrats, and I think that speaks volumes

01:48to about where the Republicans are these days on this kind of issue. The HR 2870,

01:55the Raise the Age Act, which is aimed at bolstering public safety by raising the

02:00age for individuals to buy assault weapons from 18 to 21, common-sense

02:06legislation that's already 21 for handguns, why wouldn't we do it for

02:10assault weapons? Well guess what, we don't have one Republican co-sponsor for

02:15that legislation. And another example, HR 4992, that goes to ghost guns. And the

02:20issue about ghost guns is that they're totally untraceable firearms, so they've

02:24become the weapon of choice for criminals across the country, blue states,

02:28red states, Democratic and Republican jurisdictions alike. Zero Republican

02:34co-sponsors for that legislation. So it's with, I say, great disappointment

02:40that we come here today and we speak about Police Week, and we ought to be

02:45doing things to protect police officers from dangers on the street, but

02:50absolutely nothing that's in the legislative package that's being

02:53proposed would do that. And just one last point before I yield back, the defund

02:57language, none of that's pending legislation with respect to police in

03:03the Congress right now. The only defund language that I've seen right now is

03:08defund ATF and FBI. I yield the gentleman an initial one minute. I thank the

03:13gentleman. Those are sponsored by Republicans. The defund the ATF bill is

03:18one sentence long. And so when I raised the question with the gentleman who

03:22proposed it in the committee, I said how in the world is that supposed to work?

03:26How would you defund the entire ATF knowing that we've got gun cases pending

03:31there now? And same with the FBI. International prosecutions, cartels and

03:37the like, you would just shut them down like that? That's what those bills would

03:40do. Talk about irresponsible. That's what that proposal is right now. So let's

03:46get serious. We're facing major challenges. By the way, crime's going down

03:51in cities across the country. You mentioned the 2019 statistics. You stay

03:56with 2019 because violent crime has been going down in jurisdictions, including

04:01the District of Columbia, this year as well. So let's get serious. Let's focus on

04:06doing things that really help protect police officers and make the most out of

04:10Police Week. And with that, I yield back to my colleague.

'Really Shocking': Glenn Ivey Calls Out 'Irony' Of GOP Opposition To Gun Control During Police Week

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