Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, since the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, about 10 years ago, we have not enacted any substantive firearm restrictions to prevent children from being slaughtered in our schools.

In fact, not since the massacre of first graders and their educators at Sandy Hook, but in the 20 years since the shooting at Columbine, we have not enacted any new meaningful restrictions on firearms.

We have an obligation to protect our constituents, and we have a responsibility to keep the American people safe.

After each of these instances, we hear from our friends across the aisle that we must address mental health. I agree. But we must prevent those who are intent on harming themselves or others from having access to dangerous weapons and carrying out their intent.

That is why I support this thoughtful proposal balancing public safety and the individual's right to due process.

Let's just take the massacre in Uvalde. Should there have been a law in place in Texas, a red flag law, perhaps the gunman could have been stopped. There were plenty of warning signs, including the gunman with pictures of a cat he had killed and his frequent online threats to teen girls.

As chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, I take the due process clause seriously. In this legislation, a court would need to make an individualized determination, looking at specific facts before issuing an order. A full hearing is required in 72 hours, where the party can have personal attendance and object.

This legislation is absolutely necessary, and I urge all my colleagues to support it. We have a moral obligation to act.

Yesterday, this body, with a bipartisan vote, adopted the Protecting Our Kids Act, which would make meaningful updates to our Nation's gun laws. We must go further, I believe, and reenact the assault weapons bans.

These bills would make a meaningful difference in gun violence in the United States and save American lives. God would not look kindly upon the use of weapons to kill his children, as happened in Uvalde, Texas.

Our votes are not political calculations; they are obligations. We have a duty to protect God's children.

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