Assault Weapons Ban of 2022

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, for years, the Democrats told us: We are not coming for your guns.

Oh, yes, they are.

Let's be clear. The Second Amendment is as clear as possible. That is their beef. The Second Amendment says: The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. But they don't care.

In fact, the sponsor of this legislation said so in committee. He said: ``Spare me the BS about constitutional rights.'' They don't care about that fundamental liberty law-abiding citizens in this country enjoy, and they are coming for your firearms.

Six weeks ago, it was the red flag law, where someone who doesn't like you can report you to law enforcement or to a judge. There is a hearing that you can't be at, your counsel can't be present, you haven't been charged with a crime, but they can take your firearm, they can take your property, they can take away your Second Amendment liberties, and then you have to petition for a subsequent hearing to get that right back. And you have done nothing wrong and have not been charged with a crime.

Then House Democrats passed the unconstitutional legislation that said 18- to 20-year-olds can't purchase a firearm. They can fight for our country, but they can't purchase a firearm. And today they are coming for your guns, 24 million of them.

That is right, 24 million AR-style rifles are in the hands of law- abiding Americans today, as we speak, and those individuals will not be able to sell or transfer that property.

In the Heller case, the Supreme Court made clear that the Second Amendment protects firearms in common use at the time. During the markup, Representative Bishop asked the chairman: ``Is it the point of the bill to ban weapons that are in common use in the United States today?'' And the chairman said: ``The problem is that they are in common use.''

So, yes, this is the goal. This is why it is unconstitutional. Couldn't be any clearer. Democrats don't care what the Constitution says.

Fortunately, courts are correctly applying the Constitution. Last week, a Federal District Court judge in Colorado, who was appointed by President Obama, issued a temporary restraining order against the Town of Superior, Colorado, to prevent it from implementing an assault weapon ban.

The judge wrote: Plaintiffs have stated that semiautomatic weapons, as well as magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, are commonly used by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes and, therefore, cannot be banned.

And guess what this bill will do? It won't make communities safer. It won't make them safer at all. In fact, in the Heller case, the Supreme Court said: The Second Amendment protects firearms in common use at the time and also said ``for lawful purposes like self-defense.''

Three weeks ago, July 7, 2022, a Florida homeowner used his AR-style rifle when individuals forcibly entered his home. After the homeowner opened fire, the individuals immediately fled. When asked if the homeowner would face charges, the Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said: Absolutely not. The homeowner is protecting himself. And in Florida, you can do that. You can protect yourself.

Democrats tried this ban before. It didn't work. It won't work now.

You know what it will do? It will make communities, I think, less safe. What will make communities safer, though, is if Democrats stop defunding the police, stop cashless bail, and start prosecuting criminals. They are taking away firearms used for self-defense by law- abiding Americans.

This bill is wrong. It will make communities, I think, less safe, and it is unconstitutional.

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Mr. JORDAN. Mr. Speaker, here is the fact. This bill is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court made clear the Second Amendment protects firearms in common use. This bill has eight pages of weapons and firearms that it bans, including 24 million firearms that law- abiding American citizens possess today. That is the fact.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, today the Democrats give new meaning to the term progressive. This is the first time in American history, I believe, that a Chamber of the Congress will pass a bill openly defying the Supreme Court's explicit declaration of the constitutional rights of the American people.

It represents the farthest-ever reach of the Democrats' long-pursued massive resistance doctrine.

In markup I asked if any Democrat disputed that this bill bans guns and magazines in common use. Chairman Nadler candidly responded: ``That's the point of the bill.''

In other words, the essence of the bill is to stop commerce in weapons as alternatively described by the Court in Heller in 2008 as those ``typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes.''

Heller explained the origins of the right to keep and bear arms in militia service. Ordinarily, when called for militia service, able- bodied men were expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves and of the kind in common use at the time.

The Supreme Court further explained we also recognize another important limitation on the right to keep and bear and carry arms. In Miller it said, as we have explained, that the sort of weapons protected were those ``in common use at the time.''

This was explained and recapitulated in Bruen just a month ago on June 23, and we see repeatedly that this is being defied. In fact, 1 week after Bruen, the Supreme Court granted petitions for certiorari, vacated, and remanded one State ban on MSRs and a State ban on magazines in common use to be reconsidered.

This is in defiance of the Supreme Court.

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Mr. JORDAN. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. JORDAN. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. JORDAN. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. JORDAN. I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Kentucky.

We haven't said the Second Amendment was unlimited. We quoted the Second Amendment, the Second Amendment which the Supreme Court has said protects firearms in common use. Twenty-four million Americans have these weapons. That is most certainly common use.

The fact that the chair of the Judiciary Committee says, I don't care, we are going to do it even though we know it is unconstitutional, that is just wrong.

I would just say, if the gentlewoman from Ohio wants to come to the Fourth District of Ohio and debate me on the Second Amendment, I would welcome her to come to my district anytime she wants to. She can stand here and lecture all she wants, but I would welcome her to come to my district. I would be happy to debate her.

My guess is the constituents I get the privilege of representing, most of them probably agree with me and agree with the United States Constitution.
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Mr. JORDAN.

Mr. Speaker, red flag laws take all guns from some people. This bill makes illegal some guns for all people, and we know where they want to go. We know what they want to do. They want to take all guns from all people because they can't stand the Second Amendment. They hate the Second Amendment.

In fact, during the markup, the sponsor of the legislation said this: ``Spare me the BS about constitutional rights.''

Well, Republicans care about law-abiding citizens' constitutional liberties: Their First Amendment rights, their Second Amendment rights, their Fourth Amendment due process rights. All of those have been attacked by the Democrats over the last several months.

That is why we should vote ``no'' on this legislation and let law- abiding Americans have the respect for the Second Amendment they deserve.

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Mr. JORDAN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

This is a 5-minute vote.

The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 217, nays 213, not voting 1, as follows: [Roll No. 410] YEAS--217 Adams Aguilar Allred Auchincloss Axne Barragan Bass Beatty Bera Beyer Bishop (GA) Blumenauer Blunt Rochester Bonamici Bourdeaux Bowman Boyle, Brendan F. Brown (MD) Brown (OH) Brownley Bush Bustos Butterfield Carbajal Cardenas Carson Carter (LA) Cartwright Case Casten Castor (FL) Castro (TX) Cherfilus-McCormick Chu Cicilline Clark (MA) Clarke (NY) Cleaver Clyburn Cohen Connolly Cooper Correa Costa Courtney Craig Crist Crow Davids (KS) Davis, Danny K. Dean DeFazio DeGette DeLauro DelBene Demings DeSaulnier Deutch Dingell Doggett Doyle, Michael F. Escobar Eshoo Espaillat Evans Fitzpatrick Fletcher Foster Frankel, Lois Gallego Garamendi Garcia (IL) Garcia (TX) Gomez Gottheimer Green, Al (TX) Grijalva Harder (CA) Hayes Higgins (NY) Himes Horsford Houlahan Hoyer Huffman Jackson Lee Jacobs (CA) Jacobs (NY) Jayapal Jeffries Johnson (GA) Johnson (TX) Jones Kahele Kaptur Keating Kelly (IL) Khanna Kildee Kilmer Kim (NJ) Kirkpatrick Krishnamoorthi Kuster Lamb Langevin Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) Lawrence Lawson (FL) Lee (CA) Lee (NV) Leger Fernandez Levin (CA) Levin (MI) Lieu Lofgren Lowenthal Luria Lynch Malinowski Maloney, Carolyn B. Maloney, Sean Manning Matsui McBath McCollum McEachin McGovern McNerney Meeks Meng Mfume Moore (WI) Morelle Moulton Mrvan Murphy (FL) Nadler Napolitano Neal Neguse Newman Norcross O'Halleran Ocasio-Cortez Omar Pallone Panetta Pappas Pascrell Payne Pelosi Perlmutter Peters Phillips Pingree Pocan Porter Pressley Price (NC) Quigley Raskin Rice (NY) Ross Roybal-Allard Ruiz Ruppersberger Rush Ryan Sanchez Sarbanes Scanlon Schakowsky Schiff Schneider Schrier Scott (VA) Scott, David Sewell Sherman Sherrill Sires Slotkin Smith (WA) Soto Spanberger Speier Stansbury Stanton Stevens Strickland Suozzi Swalwell Takano Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Titus Tlaib Tonko Torres (CA) Torres (NY) Trahan Trone Underwood Vargas Veasey Velazquez Wasserman Schultz Waters Watson Coleman Welch Wexton Wild Williams (GA) Wilson (FL) Yarmuth NAYS--213 Aderholt Allen Amodei Armstrong Arrington Babin Bacon Baird Balderson Banks Barr Bentz Bergman Bice (OK) Biggs Bilirakis Bishop (NC) Boebert Bost Brady Brooks Buchanan Buck Bucshon Budd Burchett Burgess Calvert Cammack Carey Carl Carter (GA) Carter (TX) Cawthorn Chabot Cheney Cline Cloud Clyde Cole Comer Conway Crawford Crenshaw Cuellar Curtis Davidson Davis, Rodney DesJarlais Diaz-Balart Donalds Duncan Dunn Ellzey Emmer Estes Fallon Feenstra Ferguson Fischbach Fitzgerald Fleischmann Flood Flores Foxx Franklin, C. Scott Fulcher Gaetz Gallagher Garbarino Garcia (CA) Gibbs Gimenez Gohmert Golden Gonzales, Tony Gonzalez, Vicente Good (VA) Gooden (TX) Gosar Granger Graves (LA) Graves (MO) Green (TN) Greene (GA) Griffith Grothman Guest Guthrie Harris Harshbarger Hartzler Hern Herrell Herrera Beutler Hice (GA) Higgins (LA) Hill Hinson Hollingsworth Hudson Huizenga Issa Jackson Johnson (LA) Johnson (OH) Johnson (SD) Jordan Joyce (OH) Joyce (PA) Katko Keller Kelly (MS) Kelly (PA) Kim (CA) Kind Kinzinger Kustoff LaHood LaMalfa Lamborn Latta LaTurner Lesko Letlow Long Loudermilk Lucas Luetkemeyer Mace Malliotakis Mann Massie Mast McCarthy McCaul McClain McClintock McHenry McKinley Meijer Meuser Miller (IL) Miller (WV) Miller-Meeks Moolenaar Mooney Moore (AL) Moore (UT) Mullin Murphy (NC) Nehls Newhouse Norman Obernolte Owens Palazzo Palmer Pence Perry Pfluger Posey Reschenthaler Rice (SC) Rodgers (WA) Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rose Rosendale Rouzer Roy Rutherford Salazar Scalise Schrader Schweikert Scott, Austin Sessions Simpson Smith (MO) Smith (NE) Smith (NJ) Smucker Spartz Stauber Steel Stefanik Steil Steube Stewart Taylor Tenney Thompson (PA) Tiffany Timmons Turner Upton Valadao Van Drew Van Duyne Wagner Walberg Walorski Waltz Weber (TX) Webster (FL) Wenstrup Westerman Williams (TX) Wilson (SC) Wittman Womack Zeldin NOT VOTING--1 Gonzalez (OH)

So the bill was passed.

The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.

A motion to reconsider was laid on the table. Members Recorded Pursuant to House Resolution 8, 117th Congress Babin (Pfluger) Barr (Wagner) Bass (Neguse) Blumenauer (Kuster) Blunt Rochester (Kelly (IL)) Boebert (Cawthorn) Bourdeaux (Correa) Bowman (Ocasio-Cortez) Boyle, Brendan F. (Trone) Bush (Ocasio-Cortez) Bustos (Kuster) Cardenas (Soto) Carter (TX) (Weber (TX)) Casten (Neguse) Cherfilus-McCormick (Neguse) Comer (Keller) Conway (Moore (UT)) Craig (Kuster) Crawford (Fleischmann) Crist (Wasserman Schultz) Cuellar (Correa) Curtis (Moore (UT)) DeGette (Perlmutter) DeSaulnier (Perlmutter) DesJarlais (Fleischmann) Deutch (Wasserman Schultz) Dingell (Kuster) Doggett (Takano) Donalds (Timmons) Evans (Neguse) Frankel, Lois (Kuster) Gaetz (Cawthorn) Garamendi (Pallone) Garbarino (Moore (UT)) Gibbs (Bucshon) Gimenez (Salazar) Gonzales, Tony (Bice (OK)) Good (Greene (GA)) Gosar (Weber (TX)) Granger (Weber (TX)) Green (TN) (Fleischmann) Guest (Fleischmann) Guthrie (Wagner) Hartzler (Moore (UT)) Herrera Beutler (Moore (UT)) Jayapal (Pallone) Jeffries (Velazquez) Johnson (LA) (Graves (LA)) Johnson (SD) (Fleischmann) Johnson (TX) (Pallone) Jones (Trone) Joyce (PA) (Keller) Kahele (Correa) Katko (Meijer) Keating (Correa) Kinzinger (Meijer) Kirkpatrick (Pallone) LaHood (Latta) Lamborn (Fleischmann) Lawson (FL) (Wasserman Schultz) Leger Fernandez (Garcia (TX)) Letlow (Moore (UT)) Levin (MI) (Correa) Malliotakis (Armstrong) Maloney, Carolyn B. (Wasserman Schultz) McBath (Bishop (GA)) McEachin (Trone) McHenry (Wagner) McNerney (Pallone) Miller (WV) (Mooney) Miller-Meeks (Keller) Moore (WI) (Neguse) Moulton (Perlmutter) Neal (Kildee) Nehls (Weber (TX)) Newman (Trone) Omar (Takano) Owens (Moore (UT)) Palazzo (Fleischmann) Panetta (Correa) Payne (Pallone) Porter (Wexton) Pressley (Ocasio-Cortez) Reschenthaler (Keller) Rice (NY) (Wasserman Schultz) Rice (SC) (Meijer) Rodgers (WA) (Moore (UT)) Ruppersberger (Trone) Ryan (Kuster) Schakowksy (Cicilline) Scott, David (Perlmutter) Sewell (Cicilline) Sires (Pallone) Smith (WA) (Wasserman Schultz) Smucker (Kelly (PA)) Spartz (Banks) Speier (Garcia (TX)) Stansbury (Ocasio-Cortez) Steel (Kim (CA)) Stefanik (Keller) Steube (Franklin, C. Scott) Stevens (Kuster) Stewart (Moore (UT)) Strickland (Neguse) Suozzi (Perlmutter) Swalwell (Correa) Taylor (Armstrong) Thompson (CA) (Correa) Tiffany (Fitzgerald) Tlaib (Ocasio-Cortez) Torres (NY) (Correa) Trahan (Trone) Van Drew (Fleischmann) Vargas (Correa) Veasey (Kelly (IL)) Walorski (Banks) Waltz (Salazar) Welch (Pallone) Wenstrup (Latta) Williams (GA) (Neguse) Wilson (SC) (Dunn)

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