Democrat’s Bill Is Attack on the Second Amendment

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, life is precious, especially the lives of children. What happened in Uvalde, Texas is tragic. It is every family’s worst nightmare. Our hearts go out to the Uvalde community community and especially to the families who’ve lost loved ones last week in this evil act of violence. And of course there’s what happened yesterday in Tulsa and a few weeks ago in Buffalo and our hearts go out to those families as well.

No one wants another tragedy. No one wants this to happen again. That’s why it’s regretful that Democrats have rushed to a markup today and what seems more like a theater than a real attempt at improving public safety or finding solutions. Democrats never once reached out to us to seek our input on the legislation we are considering here today. Protecting children is not a Republican or Democrat issue the Democrats cobble together a package of measures. This is not a real attempt, in my judgment, to find solutions. Everyone here knows the reality. Democrats are in control of the House. Anything that you and speaker Pelosi want to pass you can pass, and frankly you’ve already passed numerous bills related to firearms this Congress. But because those bills are radical attempts to legislate away second amendment rights of law-abiding citizens, the Senate has not taken up the legislation. Just like it won’t take up this bill.

What we’re doing here is just designed to appeal to Democratic primary voters. The bill won’t make our schools safer, it will hamper the rights of law-abiding citizens, and it will do nothing to stop mass shootings.

We need to get serious about understanding why this keeps happening. Democrats are always fixed on curtailing the rights of law-abiding citizens, rather than trying to understand why this evil happens. Until we figure out the why, we will always mourn losses without fixing the problem. Our job is to figure out the why.

The bill the Democrats are putting forward today does not help us understand what’s really driving some young men to commit these heinous acts. The bill before us is short-sighted and not solutions-oriented. It’s a one-size-fits-all approach that punishes law-abiding citizens while doing nothing to make our communities safer. We all want to keep children safe in school, but this bill wouldn’t do that. This bill is just another Democrat attack on the Second Amendment, and it’s likely just the start. President Biden has said he wants to ban all 9-millimeter handguns. Where does it end? The American people expect and deserve more from us than political charades that rehash old ideas and don’t actually solve the underlying problems. Mr. Chairman, we should do better than this. I yield back and look forward to the debate on the legislation.