Joseph Woodrow Hatchett United States Courthouse and Federal Building
Floor Speech
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Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio for yielding time.
The Democrats today describe this Senate bill as a step forward. If you are saving lives, it is a step backward, folks. If you are banning guns, it is a small step forward. Yes, in fact, it is.
Almost everybody on the other side of the aisle today said, it doesn't go far enough. What do they mean? Well, it is a red flag law bill, and they want to take all of the guns from some of the people.
It doesn't go far enough for them because it doesn't yet take all of the guns from all of the people. That is their goal.
Who has taken a step forward, which institution, which branch of government? Well, actually, if you are counting how many lives are going to be saved, you have to consider that the Supreme Court is the institution, the branch of government, that has taken two steps forward in the last 48 hours to save lives.
One of those steps was to reaffirm the Heller decision that men and women in this country have the right to defend their own lives.
The second step taken today was to affirm that the State legislatures have the right to defend the lives of the unborn.
This bill is ineffective, unconstitutional, and ill-conceived without consideration for the dangerous unintended consequences.
Did the drafters consider that changing the definition of ``gun dealer'' to be more ambiguous is going to make every American a gun dealer when they transfer a gun to a friend or a family member?
Did the Senators consider in their sleep deprivation when they drafted this bill hurriedly, late at night, that using childhood mental health records as a basis for denying adults their basic rights to self-defense is going to discourage many parents from seeking mental health care for their children?
If children who need it go without mental health care and early intervention, their conditions will grow worse. We will see more suicides, and we will see more mass shootings. Unfortunately and inevitably, this bill will cost more lives than it will save.
Red flag laws are going to have the same effect that considering mental health care for children will have. People will not seek mental health care, and we will see more damage to the American public.
If politicians here were serious--and they are not serious. They are going to come back. They will be back.
You will be back here in 6 months, a year. You will want another bite at the apple to ban guns because this bill won't do it. This bill won't do what you say.
If you were serious, you would acknowledge that 96 percent of mass public shootings happen in an area where guns are banned, and they would repeal the prohibitions that keep law-abiding citizens from exercising their God-given rights enshrined in the Second Amendment.
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