PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF SENATE AMENDMENTS TO HOUSE AMENDMENT TO S. 2938, JOSEPH WOODROW HATCHETT UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE AND FEDERAL BUILDING; PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF SENATE...
Richard Hudson (Republican, NC) \u2014 2022-6-24

. Madam , the State with the most mass shootings is California. California has the most restrictive gun laws in America. California already has a red flag law. But more important to this debate, red flag laws subvert due process protections and threaten the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. prgtoken Why would we agree to borrow more money that we don't have so the Federal Government can give it to States to enact laws that don't work and that actually threaten the rights of our citizens? prgtoken Why would we do that? prgtoken Second, this legislation singles out law-abiding citizens under the age of 21 by giving the government discretion to delay, for any reason, their constitutionally protected right to a firearm--a right, by the way, affirmed, yet again, by the Supreme Court just yesterday. prgtoken We all want to keep firearms out of the hands of people that shouldn't have them, and I am willing to consider ways to better identify people with mental health challenges, but I can't help but think about that 20-year-old paratrooper stationed in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. prgtoken Our Nation entrusted him to defend us with an automatic weapon or a multimillion-dollar-weapon system, but we can't trust him with a semiautomatic weapon to defend themselves in their own home? prgtoken What about the 20-year-old spouse back home in Spring Lake, North Carolina, alone because our paratrooper has deployed in service of our Nation. Are we to tell this spouse that the government doesn't trust you to defend your home? prgtoken Instead, we are going to delay your purchase for 10 days. At the end of the 10 days, the government doesn't even have to get back to the gun owner or the gun store. Let that gun dealer decide if they want to take a risk on selling you this firearm while an FBI investigation is still open. prgtoken No, this is a de facto ban on gun sales to law-abiding citizens under the age of 21. prgtoken Third, this legislation also broadens firearm prohibitions for misdemeanors and nonviolent offenders. I think most of us can agree, someone convicted of beating up their spouse ought to be put on the background check system. The law extends this to misdemeanor assault on a spouse or someone with whom you share a child. But we have to be careful when we are talking about taking away a constitutionally protected right over other misdemeanors. prgtoken The language of this bill is so broad it can include nonviolent offenders, and I am concerned that the due process protections are simply not there. prgtoken So what are we proposing today? Let's set aside these controversial unconstitutional provisions that divide us. Let's unite around the idea that we are going to tackle the real causes of this violence. These school shootings are almost always done by a young male, often from a single-parent or no-parent home. They have experienced some trauma in their life. Most are likely on some behavioral medication, an