mr. speaker , i rise today in support of the rule and in support of the underlying bill . 
it was my bill , h.r. 800 . 
i authored the house version . 
then the senate passed s. 397 , and i am pleased that we are taking action on this important piece of legislation today . 
this is a bill , frankly , my colleagues , that promotes legal responsibility . 
it respects , in my opinion , the legislative process , saves taxpayers dollars , protects legitimate law-abiding businesses , and strengthens our commitment to the second amendment . 
this is an effort that has taken several years and at least three sessions of congress to get where we are today . 
it has not been easy , but it has been heartening to see how much bipartisan support this bill has slowly garnered over the years . 
when i first introduced this bill in 2001 , it had 231 co-sponsors , but never received a vote . 
the next session we had 250 co-sponsors and an overwhelming 285 to 140 vote on the floor , but then the bill just died in the other body . 
now we have 257 co-sponsors on my bill . 
the senate overwhelmingly passed their version , and we are poised to pass this historic piece of legislation today . 
but when we started debating this issue , there were only a handful of states that had their own laws prohibiting these junk lawsuits . 
today there are 33 states that have laws prohibiting these frivolous lawsuits . 
so not only is this bill bipartisan in the house and in the senate ; it is bipartisan in this nation with 33 states , both democrats and republicans in the state legislatures and governors signing on to the bills that ultimately became laws . 
and just a few years ago polls showed anywhere from 61 to 70 percent of the american people believed that the gun industry should not be held liable for damages caused by violent criminals . 
today , that already solid majority has risen even more , to an astounding 79 percent of the american people , according to a march 2005 survey . 
mr. speaker , this is a bill and an issue whose time has obviously come . 
i urge my colleagues to support the rule and , obviously , to support the underlying bill . 
