Doug Bereuter: “First of all, I do not think we ought to rise, but we ought to understand that under the underlying amendment that is…”

“First of all, I do not think we ought to rise, but we ought to understand that under the underlying amendment that is here, it is not the possession of an illegal firearm that is the problem. It is the illegal possession. That is the language that says here. It says we are going to federalize all local ordinances that make it illegal to possess a firearm in public housing. I do not think we have any business doing that. The firearms could be perfectly legal. They could be lawful. They do not have to be assault weapons or something. As long as you possess a firearm in many communities, the very possession of an ordinary gun is illegal or unlawful in that community. Now we are going to make it a Federal crime if that is the case. I think that is wrong. Second, the fact of the matter is that under the discharge provisions of this, whatever we are going to do with self-defense really is irrelevant. I think under the Lopez decision, which we saw last year come down, it is unconstitutional for the Federal Government be involved in saying that we are going to make it a crime in every public housing unit in this country to discharge a firearm.”