By Congresswoman Mary Miller -
Nancy Pelosi and her cadre of progressives continue to prove bipartisanship is an unobtainable allusion in today’s world of hyper partisanship. The Democrats are pushing out bill after bill with little if any bipartisan support such as two gun control bills recently approved essentially on party lines.
H.R. 8, the so-called “Bipartisan Background Checks Act” passed with only 8 Republicans voting for it and H.R.1446, the “Enhanced Background Checks Act,” passed with only two Republicans voting for it.
These measures are nothing more than the latest attempt to erode our Second Amendment rights. We already have background checks as all gun purchasers at a retail store must go through a background check. In the case of online purchases, the online vendor sends the person to a licensed firearms dealer to do a background check. Police are present at gun shows to do background checks. The only sales in which a background check does not occur is private sales.
In essence, H.R. 8 is nothing more than an attempt to end private sales of firearms and set up a national registry of firearms. The notion that H.R. 8 and H.R. 1446 will do anything to stop criminal activity is laughable. Does the radical left really believe criminals looking to commit violence with guns will submit to a background check to obtain a firearm?
It is hard to believe anyone could be so gullible as to think radical gun control policies will actually work. So, what is the motivation to keep pushing a radical agenda to take away our Second Amendment rights?
It certainly isn’t the safety of our communities.
The same people who think that more gun laws are the answer are the very same ones who voted to dramatically increase regulations on police departments, which essentially would defund the police due to increased costs for local police departments. How are these laws going to be enforced if law enforcement’s hands are tied?
What these bills are really about is the elimination of our Second Amendment rights and a reimagined America as a police state in which only police officers and members of the military have firearms. In other words, the goal of the gun control movement is to accomplish what our founding fathers wished to avoid when they wrote the Bill of Rights in the first place.
These measures are not going to do a thing to stop criminal activity and the people who voted for it know it. The problem is not that we don’t have enough gun laws. We have enough gun laws. What we need is to make sure the laws we have are enforced. There are an estimated 20,000 local, state, and federal gun laws. Let’s enforce the laws we have instead of implementing additional unnecessary, ineffective, and unconstitutional gun laws.
I took a stand for liberty when I voted against H.R. 8 and H.R. 1446. As your voice in Washington, D.C., I will continue to stand up for our Second Amendment rights because I understand that if we erode the Second Amendment – it won’t be long before our rights to free speech, free assembly and freedom of religion are eroded as well.
I took an oath to preserve and defend our Constitution. It is the job of EVERY member of Congress to protect ALL of the rights guaranteed in the Constitution, even the ones the progressive left doesn't like.
