Second Amendment Rights

Floor Speech

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Mr. STUTZMAN. I thank the lady from Missouri for yielding. I brought my two sons, Payton and Preston, along today. So it's a father and son outing here. Payton asked if he could come along to hear us talk about the Second Amendment.

We, of course, we're farmers back in Indiana, and I grew up with BB guns. And Payton now has his little BB gun and a 410/22, and Preston has a little BB gun. So we enjoy the sport out on the farm.

I want to just thank you for bringing this issue to the floor today because it's such an important issue for our country, and obviously a lot of things have happened over the past several years that brings this issue to us appropriately. I believe that we do need to have a discussion not only about our Second Amendment rights, but about gun safety and how each of us as Americans who owns a gun is responsible.

Of course, my wife, Christy, and I are grieving, along with our family which is grieving for those who lost loved ones in Newtown and, of course, in Arizona, Colorado, Virginia and so many other places. We've had some cases in Fort Wayne of just irresponsibility, but also intended murder. But, of course, as we saw what happened in Boston, bad people can take any device and hurt people with those devices, and it is always sad to see.

But one of the things that I know from constituents back home is that they don't expect knee-jerk reactions from Washington when it comes to legislation. And now I would like to just quote a couple of quotes from our Founding Fathers that I think are so important and quotes about our Second Amendment rights.

George Washington said, ``A free people ought to be armed.''

Thomas Jefferson says that, ``The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.''

He also says, ``The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.''

I think that is why this motivates people to contact their Members of Congress, to let them know how they feel.

Madam Speaker, we are a democracy that is represented by people we send to Washington. As we saw the votes unfold in the Senate, I think that each one of those Members in the Senate was representing the people that they were elected by. Of course, the President was very critical of the Senate after they were not able to pass a bill that he had wanted. But when he is criticizing them, he is criticizing each one of those particular Members and also the people that sent them to the United States Senate. To watch each different vote take place, I think it tells us that Americans across the country are not about just knee-jerk reactions but about responsibility when it comes to gun ownership, and it also shows their passion about protecting the Second Amendment. Many of these Members in the Senate did not want to vote for tighter gun control laws because they were representing the people from their particular States.

So I believe that last week the American people spoke. It wasn't just the Senate. The American people, through their representatives, said that they don't want stricter gun legislation. We've already tried Senator Feinstein's so-called ``assault weapons'' ban in the nineties and it failed to reduce murder rates then, and it would, I believe, fail to reduce murder rates now. The American people understand that, and I believe that the United States Senate understands that, as well. They've seen this before.

So while we watched the Senate work through the gun legislation, there was one particular amendment that I thought was very intriguing, and that was the amendment that Senator Cornyn from Texas offered. That was an amendment that--I have a bill filed here in the House, H.R. 578. It's called the Respecting States' Rights and Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2013, which basically allows law abiding citizens that have a concealed weapon permit to carry across State lines to those States that do have concealed carry permits.

Senator Cornyn offered a very similar amendment to the underlying bill in the Senate. It almost passed. It was within three votes of passing, which I thought was very interesting that while the President was trying to enact stricter gun legislation, a bill that would actually let us as Americans travel across the country almost passed in the Senate. I think that sends a strong message to all of us as Americans that the Senate does understand and respect the importance of the Second Amendment but also is interested in letting those folks who are abiding by the law to also carry throughout the country.

The bill that I've authored understands that instead of pursuing ineffective gun controls, we really do need to strengthen the protections for law abiding citizens who exercise their right to self-defense every day.

One other comment is that my bill would simply make sure that law abiding gun owners who legally carry a concealed weapon in their home State may do so in other States. Illinois does not have a permit, so they would not be allowed to carry there, but just about every other State does.

I think Americans have seen over the past couple of weeks that both sides of the aisle see that sweeping gun control legislation is misguided and it is an attack on law-abiding gun owners, and it is designed to advance another agenda instead of really saving lives.

I believe what we really should be focused on is the people behind the weapon, the people that plant the bomb, the people that are taking these particular tools and hurting other people, whether it's with a ball bat or a crowbar or any other sort of device that people could pick up with their hands and hurt others. We really need to focus on the mental challenges that these people have. There has to be. There is information that we know about these particular people, and I believe that's who we need to focus on.

We as Americans need to make sure that we teach our children safety. If someone has decided to purchase a gun, they have a responsibility to understand how that particular weapon operates and the safety measures that go along with it, just like I learned in my hunter safety course when I was 12 years old, and also by my father, who threatened me many times if any more windows were shot out that I was going to be paying for them.

There are so many different exciting and joyful opportunities that families can do together as a family with firearms, but also there is a great responsibility that comes along with that.

Also, as the quotes that I read before from our Founding Fathers show, there is an even greater right behind that, a principle behind that, that we do have a responsibility not only to protect ourselves but to protect other citizens that we live with.

So thank you for bringing this issue to the floor, and thank you to all of those who have spoken, as well. I believe that as we continue these discussions that it should be thoughtful, that it be careful, and we in Congress have a responsibility to let people know that we do understand that this issue is an important matter. But as we've seen in the votes from the Senate, people want to know gun safety is the most important issue that we're dealing with.

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Mr. STUTZMAN. Absolutely. I think that as Payton, our oldest, we've given him a bow and arrow, and he has his straw bales out in the back of the barn. And I think that any time he goes out, we always talk to him about look what's beyond your target and make sure that you're not shooting in a direction towards a house or towards any other one that's behind there.

And it really does come down to awareness and responsibility and making sure that any time you're shooting, whether it's a bow and arrow, or whether it's a baseball, for that matter, throwing a baseball or shooting a firearm, that there is an awareness always around you.

I know we see a lot of the tragedies that happen in cities, whether it could be from a stray bullet, and that's where we need to continue to focus on those people, whether it's through our churches, whether it's through charitable organizations, through schools, education, and helping people understand the great responsibility that comes with firearms.

I feel fortunate to be raised on a farm where I could start at a very young age and was taught the lessons of responsibility with gun ownership. And then we're teaching the same with Payton and Preston.

There is that point of fun and the enjoyment of having firearms as you're out in the woods or wherever you're at. But it also goes deeper than that. And I think that's why the Second Amendment goes to the very heart of Americans and how we were founded. Obviously, the men who fought in the Revolutionary War needed to have the access to a gun to defend themselves against the Redcoats at the time, and so they obviously had to learn the same thing.

And it wasn't just to defend themselves from another army. It was also a tool used to provide food for themselves.

We're very fortunate in so many ways that we don't have the responsibility of using a gun on a daily basis like people used to. With that, people don't use a firearm as often, and they do have a responsibility to make sure that they're trained when they do purchase one, and recognizing those that are around them when they're using them.

But again, it goes to the heart of us as Americans and defending our freedom. And if it has to absolutely come to that, to defeat tyranny. That is what Thomas Jefferson mentioned about the Second Amendment.

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