Second Amendment

Second Amendment

Second Amendment

The Constitution guarantees the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms. I am committed to protecting the Second Amendment and will fight any attempts to weaken that fundamental right.

In response to the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, we must carefully examine and enforce current federal gun laws designed to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally unstable. As a gun owner and staunch defender of the Second Amendment, I will not support measures that infringe on our Constitutional right to bear arms.

Reciprocity for Concealed Carry Permits

In the 112th Congress, I cosponsored H.R. 822, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act, which allows law-abiding citizens who are permitted to carry a concealed weapon in one state to carry that weapon in another state, subject to his or her permitted state’s restrictions. Our rights do not stop at state lines, and this legislation updates the law to reflect this.

I voted for this legislation when it passed the House by a vote of 272 to 154, but the legislation was not considered by the Senate.  It now must be reconsidered in the 113th Congress.

Fast and Furious

During the 112th Congress, hearings on a federal operation known as “Operation Fast and Furious” by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) revealed startling information about how officials running Operation Fast and Furious operated. For example, they allowed the illegal purchase of guns in the United States despite the fact they had been presented with evidence that the weapons were being transferred to drug gangs in Mexico. In fact, one of these guns was used to kill an American Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry, in December 2010.

I do not believe that Attorney General Eric Holder has done enough to cooperate with the investigations of this criminally negligent operation. After initially denying this program’s existence for nearly 9 months, Holder continues to withhold thousands of documents that have been requested for this investigation. Because of the Attorney General’s blatant disregard for the authority of the law, I chose to vote him in contempt of Congress.   

I will continue to monitor the investigation into this operation.