kay mace. >> my name is mary kay mace and my daughter, ryan, was the youngest of the five students slain in the rampage shooting at northern illinois university on valentine's day of 2008. ryan was only 19 when taken from my husband and me. she was our only child and the light of our lives. as more information became available about the shooter, i had problems understanding how someone with such an extensively documented history of mental illness was able to purchase firearms legally. i naively assumed that there were laws in place to prevent that sort of thing in the interest of public safety. through extensively researching gun control laws and nics, i came to find that the good laws we do have don't go far enough and that they're somewhat unenforceable given that the background check system is missing more than a million records of people who are supposed to be prohibited purchasers. the public assumes that all crimes are committed by hardened criminals with illegally obtained firearms. and while that may be true in many cases, there are enough instances such as the massacres at virginia tec

[applause] >> mary kay mace. >> my name is mary kay mace. my daughter ryanne was the youngest of the students killed in the rampage at northern illinois univ. on valentine's day 2008. ryanne was only 19 when she was taken from my husband and me. she was our only child and the light of our lives. as more information became available about the shooter, i had trouble understanding why someone with such an extensively documented history of mental illness was able to purchase firearms legally. i naively assumed there were laws in place to prevent that sort of thing in the interest of public safety. through extensively researching gun-control laws and nics, i found out that the good laws that we do have do not go far enough and are somewhat not forcible given the background check system is missing more than 1 million records of people who are supposed to be prohibited purchasers. the public assumes all crimes are committed by hardened criminals with illegally- obtained firearms, and while that may be true in many cases, there are enough instances,

[applause] >> mary kay mace. >> my name is mary kay mace. my daughter ryanne was the youngest of the students killed in the rampaging at northern illinois univ. on valentine's day 2008. ryanne was only 19 when she was taken from my husband and me. she was our only child and the light of our lives. as more information became available about the shooter, i have trouble understanding why someone with such an extensively documented history of mental illness was able to purchase firearms legally. i naively assumed there were laws in place to prevent that sort of thing in the interest of public safety. through extensively researching gun-control laws and nics, i found out that the good laws that we do have do not go far enough and are somewhat on forcible given the background check system is missing more than 1 million records of people who are supposed to be prohibited purchasers. the public assumes all crimes are committed by hardened criminals with illegally- obtained firearms, and while that may be true in many cases, there are enough instance