(Tony Sifert, Headline USA) House Republicans Matt Gaetz and Mike Johnson bashed Democrats and their RINO allies for abusing the Constitution in advance of the passage of the gun-grabbing Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden on June 25 and will almost assuredly do little to make communities safer.
In particular, Gaetz and Johnson warned about the likely abuse of so-called red flag laws as long as Democrats remain in power.
In early June, Gaetz criticized Senate Republicans for signaling support for gun control legislation in the aftermath of the Uvalde school shooting.
.@RepMattGaetz is spot on.
“Democrats want to ensure that the government has the power to take your guns away without giving you due process.” pic.twitter.com/bAEZBG42DI
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) June 2, 2022
“If you back red flag laws as some reflexive response to some emotion you have, you betray your voters,” Gaetz argued during a House Judiciary Committee meeting. “You are a traitor to the Constitution, the Second Amendment, the Fifth Amendment.”
For Gaetz, the Democrat urgency to “do something” on guns is about power and not about saving lives, and he warned Republicans not to be duped.
“You do nothing to make mass shootings less likely, and you put a target on the back of your constituents, he said. “It’s about power, and what the Democrats want is to ensure that the government has the power to take your guns away without due process.”
In a June 23 appearance on John Bachman Now, Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., praised the Supreme Court’s ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which struck down a New York law requiring concealed carriers to “show a special need to defend themselves” when applying for a permit.
Johnson accused Biden of aiming to “disarm the populace” through gun control legislation.
“President Biden clearly has a disdain for our constitutional rights, our fundamental freedoms,” Johnson said. “[Democrats and their RINO allies] have a zeal, really, a quest, a goal to disarm the populace.”
“If you have to ask the state for permission to exercise a right, it’s not really a right at all,” he continued.
As he signed the bill, President Joe Biden lauded the bipartisan efforts that brought new funding for state red-flag laws into being.
“While this bill doesn’t do everything I want, . . . it funds crisis intervention, including red-flag laws,” Biden said. “It keeps guns out of the hands of people who are a danger to themselves and to others.”
