Congressman Markwayne Mullin (OK-02) sent a letter to President Biden yesterday, pointing out the ineffectiveness of pushing for federal gun control laws just like the ones in blue cities where mass shootings have taken place in recent months. Mullin urges the President to take a different approach than his Democrat colleagues and to do what he can to promote lawful carriage outside the home.
The full text of the letter can be found here and below.
Dear President Biden,
On April 11, 2022, I wrote to you following the horrific shooting in Sacramento, California. Since then, the country has been devastated by more mass shootings: Buffalo, Uvalde, and Highland Park, Illinois. Three of these four shootings took place in deep blue, democrat-controlled states with the most aggressive gun control laws in the nation: California, New York, and Illinois. In fact, until the Supreme Court issued its decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association (NYSRPA) v. Bruen, on June 23, 2022, a law-abiding citizen could not carry a firearm outside the home anywhere in California or New York unless he or she could convince a government bureaucrat that there was “proper cause,” aside from personal protection, in a historic crime wave that currently plagues America’s cities.
As was the case in Sacramento, in Buffalo, in Uvalde, and yesterday in Highland Park, Illinois, we heard from you that the only solution to gun violence in California, New York, and Illinois, is for Congress to pass gun control laws like the ones in California, New York, and Illinois. Unfortunately, neither your approach, nor the approach of your close allies in government, is working to save American lives from these tragedies.
If the argument that “less guns equals less crime” were true, we would not have seen almost eight thousand shootings over the past two years in Chicago. If the argument that “less guns equals less crime” were true, we wouldn’t see lawfully carrying Christians save over 200 lives when a deranged shooter entered the West Freeway Church of Christ outside Fort Worth, Texas in December 2019. In fact, when Texas passed its “church carry” law in 2019, you were quick to go on the offensive and attack Governor Abbot for promoting its passage. Further still, after the incident, your close associate Michael Bloomberg expressed his disappointment that those good Christians were armed in the first place. This is surreal.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act was enacted into law on June 25, 2022. A few House and Senate Republicans, alongside gun-control obsessed Democrats successfully ushered many of the proposals you have touted for years as desperately necessary to save lives: “red flag” laws (i.e. ex parte confiscation orders), increased background check requirements for individuals under 21 years old, the creation of criminal prohibitions on straw purchases, and the expansion of firearm purchase prohibitions related to domestic violence. Nevertheless, and as if on cue, when news of the Highland Park shooting broke, talking heads in the gun control movement brushed aside the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act as a “first step,” expressing their desire for “step two” (ostensibly “assault weapon” bans, and government confiscation). On July 4, 2022, Jim Kenney, the Mayor of Philadelphia, said the quiet part aloud, openly calling for confiscation and an outright ban.
As mentioned above, on June 23, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court published its opinion in NYSRPA v. Bruen, striking down as unconstitutional all “may issue” statutes for concealed carry permits in states like California, New York, Maryland, and New Jersey (among others). For decades, “may issue” states have abused their power, and unjustifiably deprived citizens of what is merely a tool, only to be used in the worst of circumstances. I celebrate the holding in Bruen as returning some semblance of liberty to current and future gun owners.
Following the release of Bruen, I was saddened, but not surprised, to hear of Governor Kathy Hochul’s efforts, alongside the New York General Assembly, to construct a legislative “end around” the Supreme Court’s opinion. On July 1, 2022, Governor Hochul signed legislation expanding prohibited places to virtually everywhere in New York City. The bill criminalizes carry not just in schools, hospitals, and government buildings, but on public transit, and all businesses unless the business “opts in” to allow the public to carry inside the establishment. Aside from rigorous (and expensive) classroom and live-fire training requirements, those seeking gun permits must disclose their active and inactive social media accounts from the past three years, as well as provide four references for a government bureaucrat to contact and confirm the applicant’s “good moral character.” Governor Gavin Newsom has vowed to do the same in California. These are essentially full carry bans, pure political posturing, will be litigated, and are unlikely to survive judicial scrutiny.
In the wake of the latest tragedy in Highland Park, Illinois, I challenge you not to retreat to a familiar corner of this debate, and call for more gun control laws that never work. I challenge you to take a different approach than your fellow Democrats in crime-ridden cities and do what you can to promote lawful carriage outside the home. Oppose the expansion of prohibited places where you have the authority to do so. Reign in the draconian rules promulgated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) since your administration began. Don’t stand in the way; take steps to give law-abiding Americans a fighting chance – on their terms – should one of these tragic events take place in their own community.
