Protecting Our Kids Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I oppose H.R. 7910, the Democrats' latest gun control effort. Supporters of this bill do not want to protect America's Second Amendment rights because they don't care about Second Amendment rights.

Instead of addressing the societal issues that have been caused by decades of progressive leftwing policies that have assaulted the American family and American society, they want to ban guns.

They ignore the fact that many of the cities with the most restrictive gun control laws also have the highest levels of crime. They simply do not acknowledge that they don't believe in the Second Amendment.

But let's talk about what Republicans have proposed because Republicans have proposed many efforts. You just heard from Mr. Massie one of his.

Well, here is what you don't hear. I listened very carefully to the majority leader. He was enumerating through polls. But guess what? The majority of Americans believe schools would be safer if teachers were given options to carry a firearm. That comes from The Economist, the latest Economist poll last week.

A similar poll: 26 percent are safer with an armed guard. Utah allows teachers to carry a concealed weapon. They not only have not had a mass shooting, they have never had a shooting since that law has been in place.

Justice Scalia said in his Heller opinion that the very text of the Second Amendment implicitly recognizes the pre-existence of the right, the Second Amendment right, and declares only that it shall not be infringed. This is not a right granted by the Constitution. Neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence.

The Second Amendment simply declares that it shall not be infringed, but that is exactly what your bills do.

The Republicans have also said, let's harden the schools. Look, you have got $122 billion that you gave in relief, COVID relief to K-12. More than 90 percent of it remains unused.

And you say, well, we don't want to talk about doors. What do we do? We hide behind doors because they work.

You can harden schools and make them work. You can arm guards and make them work and make children safer.

We all condemn the acts of violence that have occurred throughout our country, but the answer cannot be restricting America's right to protect themselves. Every day, Americans use guns to protect themselves and their families. This bill will make it harder for Americans to do this. That is an inconvenient fact that my colleagues across the aisle simply can't and choose not to address.

Last week, at markup, Democrats repeatedly claimed that good guys with guns do not stop bad guys with guns. But Congressman Massie read a long list of incidents of good guys using guns to stop bad guys. But that list was ignored.

I will give you one. In Charleston, West Virginia, a woman with a 9- millimeter handgun stopped a shooter shooting into a crowd with an AR- 15.

Here is one. Stephen Willeford stopped a shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs.

I urge you to vote ``no.''

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