Kelly Ayotte's response to my email

[PatSeg]

I wrote the Senator on April 17th and she just today responded to my email.

My email:

"Background checks

You were not elected to the Senate to represent the NRA, gun dealers, and gun manufacturers. Are you seriously putting your career before the lives and safety of innocent people? Voters will not forget this come your next election. You are hardly the type of person I want representing me and my family. How do you sleep at night?"

Her response:


May 9, 2013

Dear Ms. S:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the recent debate on the Senate floor about preventing gun violence in our country. I appreciate hearing from you.

Regardless of false attacks you may have seen, I support effective criminal background checks. Having spent my career prosecuting violent criminals and serving for five years as New Hampshire's attorney general, I am deeply committed to preventing violence. From my experience working with law enforcement officials and prosecutors, I know how important it is to have laws that work and to enforce the laws that are already on the books.

The Manchin-Toomey legislation would have expanded the current background check system - a broken system that the government is not fully enforcing. For example, in 2010, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was referred 76,412 National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) denials, about two-thirds of which were based on the applicant being a felon or fugitive from justice. Of those, charges were brought in only 44 cases - and resulted in just 13 successful prosecutions.

Even if the current background check system was expanded, it's important to note that a May 2013 Department of Justice report found that less than one percent of state prison inmates who possessed a gun when they committed their offense obtained the firearm at a gun show, and only about 10 percent of state prison inmates obtained their firearm from a licensed firearm dealer. In many cases, criminals find alternate methods to obtain firearms. In fact, 40 percent of state prison inmates who possessed a gun when they committed their offense obtained their firearm from an illegal source such as through a drug deal, theft, or the black market, and that is why we need rigorous prosecution of gun-related crimes.

In my view, we shouldn't be expanding a flawed system. We should focus on fixing the broken system and fully enforcing the law. That is why I voted for legislation, that had bipartisan support, to fix the current background check system. The Protecting Communities and Preserving the Second Amendment Act would have strengthened the background check system, addressed mental health gaps, boosted resources to improve school safety, criminalized gun trafficking and straw purchasing, and increased prosecutions of gun-related violence.

Given the connection between mental illness and the horrific tragedies at Newtown, Aurora, and Virginia Tech, I also cosponsored and voted for the Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act. This bipartisan measure includes provisions of legislation I helped introduce that seek to improve mental health first aid training and increase the effectiveness of mental health care across the nation. This amendment passed the Senate overwhelmingly by a vote of 95 to 2.

I understand and appreciate that New Hampshire citizens have strong and diverse views on how to prevent gun violence, but we all share a common desire to prevent tragedies like the one that occurred in Newtown. I hope you'll take the time to read my attached op-ed, which further explains how I voted and why.

Please be assured that I will continue my efforts to prevent violence, enforce and improve our broken background check system, strengthen mental health services, and increase school safety - while protecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me. As your Senator, it is important for me to hear from you regarding the current issues affecting New Hampshire and our nation. Please do not hesitate to be in touch again if I may be of further assistance.

Sincerely,

Kelly A. Ayotte
U. S. Senator

[pkdu]

1. So she openly admits a minority of State prison inmates obtained their guns from illegal means...

[Thinkingabout]

2. Since this bill was trying to correct some of the flaws it woul have served her well to

Have voted yes on the background check bill. I understand it will not be perfect but any improvement would be working towards a workable bill.

[russspeakeasy]

3. This is a typical "staff written" letter.

Of what further assistance do you think she will be ?

[PatSeg]

4. Absolutely NONE

This is a classic "Cover your ass" letter and a clear indication that she seriously regrets her vote. She'll regret it even more come 2016. I think her career in DC will be a very short one.

[russspeakeasy]

5. Exactly...and thanks for the post.

[gateley]

6. Really? I thought she responded to that person at the Town Hall by saying she

FEARED it would result in a Gun Registry EVEN THOUGH THE BILL EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED SUCH A REGISTRY.

Or does she send that response to those who she thinks are Republicans?


What's it gonna be, Kelly?

I hope she gets sent packing next election.

Good for you, PatSeg, for contacting her!

[PatSeg]

7. Yeah, that was at the first town hall meeting

Then I think people called her on that bit of BS and she started leaning to the, "this bill won't solve the problem and I want a better blah, blah, blah." You can tell she had her staff working overtime to get statistics to justify her unjustifiable position.

This past election, New Hampshire went Democratic. I think she knows she is outnumbered. Also she has the personality of a damp dishrag.

[gateley]

8. I gotta say this, though, she DID attend a Town Meeting.

I can't see Boehner at one of those.

But just the same, she needs to go.

[PatSeg]

9. Oh, I agree

That took some guts and she didn't even have John McCain and Lindsay Graham standing behind her! She must have realized pretty quickly that her political career was seriously threatened because she held several town hall meetings and took a lot of hard questions.

She just isn't senate material though. When she was confronted by the daughter of the woman who was killed at Sandy Hook, she actually backed up physically when she answered the question. Her weak, wavering voice was even weaker than usual. This is a woman who appears very uncomfortable speaking publicly. Of course, if she's lying, that would make her even more uncomfortable.