On the recordJuly 29, 2022
Mr. Speaker, today the Democrats give new meaning to the term progressive. This is the first time in American history, I believe, that a Chamber of the Congress will pass a bill openly defying the Supreme Court's explicit declaration of the constitutional rights of the American people. It represents the farthest-ever reach of the Democrats' long-pursued massive resistance doctrine. In markup I asked if any Democrat disputed that this bill bans guns and magazines in common use. Chairman Nadler candidly responded: ``That's the point of the bill.'' In other words, the essence of the bill is to stop commerce in weapons as alternatively described by the Court in Heller in 2008 as those ``typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes.'' Heller explained the origins of the right to keep and bear arms in militia service. Ordinarily, when called for militia service, able- bodied men were expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves and of the kind in common use at the time. The Supreme Court further explained we also recognize another important limitation on the right to keep and bear and carry arms. In Miller it said, as we have explained, that the sort of weapons protected were those ``in common use at the time.'' This was explained and recapitulated in Bruen just a month ago on June 23, and we see repeatedly that this is being defied.…





