Jack Brooks: “I rise in opposition to H.R. 4296, the so-called Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act. It is time…”

“I rise in opposition to H.R. 4296, the so-called Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act. It is time we set the record straight and after doing so, vote down this misguided effort. If ever the name of a bill was misleading, this one is classic. H.R. 4296 does nothing to ensure public safety or recreational use of firearms. Rather, it places unnecessary, unjustified restrictions on the legitimate use of certain weapons. The sole purpose of this legislation is to ban certain semiautomatic weapons. ... under that line of reasoning, I am surprised that they are not just proposing to do away with the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution, for as a hunter and sportsman myself, I can assure each Member that any gun, even a dart gun or BB gun or 22 rifle is very intimidating when the barrel of that gun is pointed directly at you. Accessories found on some semiautomatic weapons ... may look menacing to persons unfamiliar with firearms, but there is no evidence that any one of them provides any advantage to the criminal.”