Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 613, the Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati Correctional Officer Self-Protection Act of 2017. I support this bipartisan and commonsense bill to facilitate the ability of Federal Bureau of Prisons correctional officers to carry personal firearms for protection as they commute to and from their jobs. This bill would allow the Bureau's correctional officers to protect themselves without jeopardizing the safety and the security of the facilities in which they work. Currently, Bureau of Prisons correctional officers are authorized to carry concealed firearms for self-protection while off duty under the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act, and this bill doesn't alter that existing privilege. Instead, because there is no mechanism today to allow these correctional officers to store firearms that they might carry during their commutes to and from work, they are precluded from bringing their personal firearms onto the premises of these facilities and are therefore, in effect, precluded from carrying firearms for personal protection as they travel to and from the workplace. To address this problem, H.R. 613 requires the Bureau of Prisons to allow properly qualified correctional officers to bring their firearms onto the premises of Bureau facilities in a manner that minimizes possible security and safety risks.…”