Second Amendment

I remain steadfast in my support for the Second Amendment and the individual right to keep and bear arms. Law abiding citizens are less safe when they are stripped of this Constitutional right by gun control policies that only target them, rather than the perpetrators of violent crime involving firearms.

Despite the adoption of numerous gun control measures a few years ago, violent crime, and more specifically crimes involving firearms, have been on the rise recently.

Rather than making it harder for law-abiding citizens that are trying to comply with the law and do the right thing, we should be targeting those that commit crimes involving firearms and repeat offenders.

This has been the approach in the House under Republican control. Last year, we successfully funded an initiative that I sponsored– Operation Ceasefire – to target those that are committing the most gun violence in our communities and bring pressure to bear on them to change their ways. This could be individuals or those involved in gang activity.

We’ve also attempted to crack down on those violating our gun laws and utilizing firearms in the commission of a crime. Just this year the House approved legislation to increase the minimum sentence for repeat offenders using or displaying a firearm in the commission of a crime, but unfortunately that measure was rejected by the Senate.