US 2nd Amendment Under Assault, Freedom Firearms Guns Defense

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https://www.theepochtimes.com/senate-republicans-introduce-bill-codifying-right-to-bear-arms-outside-the-home_5128343.html

Senate Republicans Introduce Bill Codifying Right to Bear Arms Outside the Home
It would also allow citizens to sue government for infringement of rights

March 16, 2023

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Senate Republicans are set to
introduce on a bill on Thursday that would codify the right to bear
arms for self-defense outside the home.

The bill would incorporate elements from the Supreme Court’s 2008
District of Columbia v. Heller decision and the New York State Rifle
and Pistol Association v. Bruen decision from 2022, he said.

In Heller, the court affirmed an individual’s right to own a firearm.
The Bruen decision affirmed the individual’s right to carry a gun for
self-protection outside their home. Graham said the bill would
enshrine those rights in federal law. It would also give citizens the
right to sue any government agency or official who tried to infringe
on that right.

“When you live in an autocratic environment, you don’t own; the
government does,” Graham said during a March 16, 2023, press
conference.

“[The Act is] to give you a cause of action so you can fight back.”
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) walks to the
Senate Republican Luncheon in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington
on Aug. 2, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Graham was joined by Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Sen. John Cornyn
(R-Texas). Kennedy said Americans must respect the court’s decisions,
regardless of whether or not they agree. He said some Democrats have
been taking the position that it’s okay to ignore rights they disagree
with.

“Their copy of the Bill of Rights goes from amendment one to amendment
three,” Kennedy said.

According to Graham, the Democratic Party is continuing an assault on
Americans’ fundamental constitutional rights and the institutions set
up to protect those rights. He said a Senate Judiciary Committee
hearing on protecting public safety in the wake of the Bruen decision
is an example.

In that hearing, gun control advocates told how the Bruen decision had
impacted other laws, especially the prohibition of firearms ownership
for those subject to domestic violence protection orders.

In Bruen, the court established a “text and history” test for courts
deciding a law’s constitutionality. Under this test, if a law does not
conform with how similar laws have been enforced, it would not be
considered constitutional.
Epoch Times Photo The Supreme Court building in Washington on March
26, 2020. (Juliet Wei/Sound of Hope)

Victims of domestic violence and gun control proponents told the
committee that this test was used by the Fifth Circuit Court of
Appeals to remove protections.

In that case, Zackey Rahimi had been involved in several altercations
in which he fired a gun while subject to a civil protection order.
Based on the Bruen decision test, Rahimi pleaded guilty to that charge
but successfully appealed.

Second Amendment advocates told the committee that Rahimi should have
been imprisoned for his gun crimes. Instead, he was released by the
courts, which allowed him to commit more crimes.

According to Graham, the hearing was one step in finding ways to chip
away at a basic constitutional right by undermining a Supreme Court
decision. Graham said liberals in the Democratic Party are committed
to their political agenda above all else.

He said that after the recent Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health
Organization decision, overturning the constitutional right to
abortion and sending the decision back to the states, certain liberal
Democrats began to talk of packing the court. He said attempts to
remove the filibuster and President Joe Biden’s recent executive order
expanding background checks, increasing public scrutiny on gun dealers
and redefining what it means to “deal in firearms” are part of that
plan.
Epoch Times Photo President Joe Biden speaks about his efforts to
reduce gun violence at The Boys & Girls Club of West San Gabriel
Valley, in Monterey Park, Calif. on Mar. 14, 2023. (JIM WATSON/AFP via
Getty Images)

The executive order “evades the American legal system to get a
political outcome,” said Graham.

“They want an outcome, and they don’t give a damn how they get it.”

Cornyn said Congress should go even further in affirming Second
Amendment rights and called for “national reciprocity.” Under national
reciprocity, concealed carry permits and firearms licenses would be
honored in every state, just as driver’s licenses are.

“A concealed handgun license should be treated the same way,” he said.

Acknowledging that driving is not a constitutional right, Kennedy said
it is still considered a right for Americans to drive cars. He pointed
out that law-abiding drivers are not penalized for those who drive
drunk.
Epoch Times Photo After a speech on the Senate floor in support of the
Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn
(R-Texas) talks to reporters as he walks through the Capitol Rotunda
in Washington on June 23, 2022. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“We don’t solve that problem by revoking everybody’s license. We focus
on the problem—the drunk driver,” Kennedy said.

Gun rights organizations have criticized all three senators for
supporting a gun control bill Biden has touted as the most significant
gun safety bill in 30 years: The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

Cornyn in particular has come under fire for his role in negotiating
provisions of the bill for Red Flag laws. These laws allow the
government to seize guns from persons a court has ruled a danger to
themselves or the community.

The Texas lawmaker stood by his efforts, saying the law would keep
guns out of the hands of criminals and those who are not competent to
own guns.

“Any suggestion that I don’t support the Second Amendment is false,”
Cornyn said. “It’s just a lie.”