If we have a president who asked for a mandate on combating gun violence, as Hillary Clinton is requesting, that's going to be really impactful. I will certainly defer to her when it comes to the exact pace and content of legislative action, but I expect it will be at the top of her agenda. It will certainly be at the top of mine.

If [lawmakers] lose elections in part because of their votes on the background-check bill or their position on the terror gap bill, then there will be a rethinking of this issue within the Republican conference.

Republicans are going to have to come to the conclusion that there's a political price for standing against 90 percent of their constituents to stand with the gun lobby.

I will consider my time in the Senate a failure if we don't pass some meaningful legislation to reduce the likelihood that Sandy Hook ever happens again.

There are all sorts of shades of gray when you're working on economic policy and tax policy and health care policy. There's no gray on this issue, to me. This is a gun lobby that is raging out of control, that doesn't even represent its own members.

Living in stressful situations there are chemicals in your brain that are released that essentially degrade the neuron connections that allow you to function as a normal human being.

You have to think not about what you mean but about what people hear.