Virginia Foxx: “The Constitution of the United States of America was written to put in statute the limits of government's authority over…”

“The Constitution of the United States of America was written to put in statute the limits of government's authority over citizens. It does not bestow rights or permit freedoms upon American people; rather, it delimits what government of the people, by the people, and for the people can and cannot do. Since well before our country's founding, Americans have exercised the right to keep and bear arms, a right formally protected by the ratification of the Second Amendment in 1791. As a lifelong defender of Second Amendment freedoms, I am committed to ensuring that any new proposals considered in Washington do not infringe upon the constitutionally guaranteed rights of law- abiding citizens. In the wake of devastating tragedies, well-meaning people feel compelled to do something, and the government, likewise, to intercede. But good intentions don't often make good or constitutional laws, and they certainly are no match for those set on being lawless. The Second Amendment reads: A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. If the text alone were not explicit, our Founding Fathers clarified the purpose of the Second Amendment. James Madison wrote, in Federalist No. 46, that Americans possess: the advantage of being armed over the people of almost every other nation whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.…”