Billy Lawless (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am absolutely horrified by what has happened in my adopted country in the past couple of days. It is absolutely incredible to think that so many people have died and been injured. As Senator Mark Daly said, it does not seem to matter how many massacres take place in the United States: they just cannot seem to get it. One would think the United States, being supposedly the most civilised and humane country in the world, would get the whole issue of guns. Since I went there 20 years ago, I have been amazed by the gun laws in the United States. A couple of years ago, when President Obama wanted to introduce background checks, 91% of the American people voted in favour of them, and in the US Senate, where I have many friends, they could not get 60 votes out of 100 to bring the matter to the floor. They have to get what is called cloture, or two thirds of the vote. They could not get 60 votes to debate it on the floor of the Senate. In my restaurants in Chicago, I have a photograph of a gun with a red line through it-----