Jody Hice: “I thank the gentleman from Montana for your leadership on this issue and for all the members of the House Freedom Caucus…”

“I thank the gentleman from Montana for your leadership on this issue and for all the members of the House Freedom Caucus who stand for the issues that are both constitutional and extremely important to the American citizens. All of us, all of us, all of us have been shocked over and over to see the unspeakable acts of violence, mass shootings and the like that have taken place in recent years and are rising in intensity and frequency. We see the heart-wrenching situations that these tragedies create in families and communities, and we see the rippling effect that they have in our Nation as a whole. But far too often when these types of things happen, the reaction has become predictable from our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, from the media, from others who immediately jump to conclusions, politicize the tragedies, and transfer to an agenda that includes disarming law-abiding citizens and stripping away our constitutionally protected Second Amendment. {time} 2000 Stricter regulation is not the issue--it is not the answer. Stripping away constitutional rights of American citizens is not the answer to these problems. When considering how to deal with issues like mass shootings, we need to dig down to the root cause. This is just common sense. We have a major problem, let's get to the cause of the problem. Firearms are just a tool, and like with any tool, the tool is only as effective or ineffective as the one operating the tool.…”