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Speier: 'I Think We’re All Rethinking Whether Or Not We Need Guns In Our Homes'

Rep. Jackie Speier (D., Calif.) gave her estimation of public sentiment regarding gun control Wednesday on MSNBC:

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON:  Congresswoman Speier, in your district, what do you hear from the people there? Are they, are they simply fed up? Do they want you to take action? Do they want the rest of the congress to take action? As you take a straw poll and get an accept of the heat index of how people are responding, what do you hear?

JACKIE SPEIER: Well, in my district, they want us to get a steel backbone. They want us to speak on behalf of the people and not the NRA. I did a gun buyback in my district just a few weeks ago. It's the second lowest crime rate in the state. And we collected 685 guns, 24 assault weapons, magazines and silencers and one street sweeper. And if that's the kind of guns that are in our communities, it's time to rethink whether we need them in our homes. And as she said, there's a higher incidence in homes when you have a gun. You're more likely to be killed by an intimate partner than you are by a stranger. And I have a number of people who said to me, I asked them why are you coming here? You know I've got small kids this is something that came to may from my grand father or uncle, I don't need it any more. And I think we're all rethinking whether or not we need guns in our homes.

Demand for firearms and ammunition has exploded in recent months as Congress has taken up debate on gun control legislation.

Full segment: