By
Todd J. Gillman/Reporter -
DallasNews.com
At todays Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence and gun control Texas Sen. John Cornyn argued that before trying to ban any particular weapons or ammunition magazines the government should focus on enforcement of laws already in existence. He noted that gun crime prosecutions fell 13 percent from 2007 to 2011 and called in particular for tighter enforcement of laws that ban lying on background checks. And he called for hearings on the Justice Departments failure to adequately enforce existing laws.
I have a hard time telling my constituents in Texas that Congress is looking at passing a whole raft of new laws when the laws that we currently have on the books are so woefully unenforced" he said.
On the other hand he added that hes open to exploring steps Congress might take to improve mental health care and to improve screening to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.
Perhaps its time to consider our background checks laws to see if they need to be updated to screen out the growing number of people who are subjected to court-ordered outpatient mental health treatment" he said. …There are areas where Congress can come together right now examine the nexus between gun crime violence and mental health care. Im willing to listen to serious ideas not just window dressing to try to come up with solutions."
Freshman Sen. Ted Cruz one of the newest members of the committee
got his turn a bit later making clear that he opposes any effort to limit gun rights.
