As House Democrats formulated and pushed their universal background check bill through committee they refused to allow Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) to testify in defense of the Second Amendment.
Scalise suffered near fatal wounds on June 14, 2017, when a gunman opened fire on Congressional baseball practice. Despite this life-threatening experience and firsthand knowledge of what it is like to be under fire, the Democrats refused Scalise an opportunity to give testimony.
Perhaps they refused because Scalise emerged from the shooting understanding that people must be armed to defend themselves when under fire. Or it could be because the gun control bill pushed by the Democrats, H.R. 8, would not have prevented the Congressional baseball attack from occurring; this is because the gunman acquired all his weapons via background checks.
Either way, Scalise made clear that the Democrats refused to let him testify.
Scalise told Fox News he was surprised when the Democrats refused his request. He said:
I was surprised, because it’s unprecedented. In the past, when we were in charge on the Republican side, if the Democrats selected among one of their witnesses to be a sitting member of Congress, we always gave them the courtesy of testifying in a proper setting, and we were asking for that same courtesy — and they denied it.
Former Republican presidential contender Herman Cain opined on H.R. 8 and the Democrats’ efforts to keep Scalise from testifying in support the Second Amendment:
It’s worth noting that none of the draconian restrictions in H.R. 8 would have done anything to prevent the overwhelming majority of the mass shootings that have occurred in America. This blatant infringement on the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is just another radical gun confiscation bill, not the sort of “common sense” regulation its deceptive name is clearly intended to suggest.
Rep. Scalise tried to make that point, drawing on his unique perspective as a survivor of a mass shooting, but the Democrats barred him from speaking, presumably because they knew he would be an effective advocate for the rights enshrined in our Constitution.
In addition to the attack on Congressional baseball practice, the Democrats’ gun control would have also failed to prevent the Tree of Life Synagogue attacker (October 27, 2018), the Texas church attacker (November 5, 2017), the San Bernardino attackers (December 2, 2015), the Colorado Springs attacker (October 31, 2015), the Umpqua Community College attacker (October 1, 2015), Alison Parker’s attacker (August 26, 2015), the Lafayette movie theater attacker (July 23, 2015), the Chattanooga attacker (July 16, 2015), the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal attacker (Jun 17, 2015), the Muhammad Carton Contest attackers (May 3, 2014), the Las Vegas cop killers (June 9, 2015), the Santa Barbara attacker (May 23, 2014), the Fort Hood attacker (April 2, 2014), the Arapahoe High School attacker (December 13, 2013), the D.C. Navy Yard attacker (September 16, 2013), the Aurora movie theater attacker (July 20, 2012), the Fort Hood attacker (November 5, 2009), or the Virginia Tech attacker (April 16, 2007).
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
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