Hudson Leads Republican Opposition to Senate Gun Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) led the House Republican opposition to gun control legislation today passed by the U.S. Senate and being considered in the U.S. House.
In remarks on the House floor, Rep. Hudson discussed why he opposes the Senate bill that threatens the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. Instead, Rep. Hudson demanded immediate consideration of H.R. 7966, the STOP II, Secure Every School and Protect our Nation’s Children Act.
Rep. Hudson introduced the STOP II Act to fund the hiring of more school resource officers, the hiring of more mental health guidance counselors to intervene with students before they reach a breaking point, and STOP School Violence programs that harden schools and provide training to law enforcement, school officials, and students.
From Rep. Hudson's remarks:
As the father of an elementary school child, my heart aches for the lives lost and the unimaginable pain and grief felt by those who love them. Neither party cares more about this. Neither political party has a monopoly on wanting to do something.
That’s why Republicans have come to the table with ideas that will actually get to some of the root causes of this violence. More than twelve pieces of legislation have been introduced by Republican Members of this House to strengthen background checks, to improve law enforcement coordination and response, to address the mental health needs of our children, to make schools safer and to prevent this violence.
To date, my colleagues across the aisle have been unwilling to engage with us to seek consensus; to work together to solve this problem.
Just a few weeks ago, the majority party brought forth a package of gun control measures. This legislation targeted the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. This legislation did nothing to address security in our schools. It did nothing to provide better mental health resources to improve the ability of school officials and law enforcement to intervene with children in crisis. But it did let a lot of people around here feel better because they could go home and say we did something.
Over in the Senate, they aren’t even considering this reckless package of bills. But Republicans and Democrats in the Senate did attempt to work together to find a solution. And there are many things that I like about this Senate legislation. In fact, I’m flattered that they used much of the mental health and school safety provisions from my legislation.
But as much as we feel the need to do something to tackle this problem, we cannot forget that oath we all took on the first day of this Congress. Our highest calling as Members of Congress is to defend the Constitution. And that is where this legislation sent to us by the Senate falls short.
This open-ended gun control legislation opens the door to federal funding of state red flag laws. First of all, these laws don’t work. I ask unanimous consent to insert into the record a list of 12 mass shootings that have taken place in states that already have red flag laws. The state with the most mass shootings on my list 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. Why would we agree to borrow more money that we don’t have so that the federal government can give it to states to enact laws that don’t work and threaten the rights of our citizens? Why would we do that?
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 just affirmed yet again by the Supreme Court yesterday.
We all want to keep firearms out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. And, I am willing to consider ways to better identify people with mental health challenges. But I cannot help but think about that 20-year-old paratrooper stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Our nation entrusts them to defend us with an automatic rifle or a multi-million-dollar weapons system. But we can’t trust them with a semi-automatic rifle to defend themselves in their home? What about their 20-year-old spouse back home in Spring Lake, North Carolina, alone because our paratrooper is deployed in service of our nation? Are we to tell this spouse that the government doesn’t trust you to defend your home? Instead, we are going to delay your purchase 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. This is a de facto gun ban on gun sales for law-abiding citizens under the age of 21.
Third, this legislation also broadens firearms prohibitions for misdemeanors and non-violent offenders. I think most of us can agree, someone convicted of beating up their spouse ought to be put on to 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. The language in this bill is so broad it could include non-violent offenders. And I am concerned the due process protections are simply not there.
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 a behavioral medication. And they have shown plenty of signs of being in crisis. Yet, effective intervention and mental health treatment did not happen.
So, let’s start there. Today, I rise to propose we defeat this Previous Question and replace the Senate language with HR 7966.
This legislation builds on the STOP School Violence Act signed into law in 2018 by providing $1 billion in grants to hire more School Resource Officers. It provides $1 billion to hire mental health guidance counselors so that schools have the resources to intervene with these children in crisis. Imagine if we had been able to intervene with the shooter in Uvalde before he dropped out of high school?
This legislation includes $5 billion to fund Stop School Violence programs to make schools safer, to provide active shooter training to law enforcement, and to better equip school officials, students, and law enforcement to intervene before one of these students reaches the breaking point.
This $7 billion is paid for by redirecting unspent COVID-19 funds that have already been approved.
Also, under my legislation, schools can apply for a threat assessment to identify weaknesses in security and to assess the mental health services at the school. We will also codify a clearinghouse at Homeland Security to collect and share best practices for school safety. These are practical, commonsense solutions that we should all be able to agree will have a real impact.
Today, we can come together, Republicans and Democrats, and really address these issues in a meaningful way. And we can do this while at the same time, keeping that promise made by the sacrifice and the courage of our founders, by upholding our pledge on the first day in office to defend this Constitution.
Watch Rep. Hudson's remarks here.
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