Submitted by Sen. Mike Braun’s Press Office
Senator Mike Braun (R-Ind.) has introduced the Right to Protect and Bear Arms Act with Senators Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Boozman (R-Ark.), Cotton (R-Ark.), Cramer (R-N.D.), Crapo (R-Idaho), Cruz (R-Texas), Daines (R-Mont.), Ernst (R-Iowa), Hawley (R-Mo.), Hoeven (R-N.D.), Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Lankford (R-Okla.), Lummis (R-Wyo.), Marshall (R-Kan.), Moran (R-Kan.), Risch (R-Idaho), Rounds (R-S.D.), R. Scott (R-Fla.), S. Scott (R-S.C.), Thune (R-S.D.), Tillis (R-N.C.), Wicker (R-Miss.), and Young (R-Ind.).
This bill would prevent the President and the Secretary of Health and Human Services from declaring certain emergencies or disasters for the purpose of imposing gun control.
In various reports, gun control organizations are encouraging the Biden Administration to administratively restrict the right to keep and bear arms. One such idea is to declare “gun violence” a public health emergency. The central idea is that declaring gun violence as a “public health emergency” would open “a broad set of powers to accelerate steps to prevent gun violence.”
As The New York Times points out, with “gun violence” declared as a public health emergency, the Administration will be able “to swiftly enact executive orders that would regulate the tracking of homemade firearms, require background checks for virtually all gun sales and mandate dealers notify the F.B.I when they compete gun sales before completing a background check.” Meaning, any Administration would then potentially have the power to indefinitely hold up a gun sales.
Braun
“Declaring a public health emergency does not give the Executive Branch the right to infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of Americans to defend themselves and their families, and Congress must make this 100 percent clear in law so the rights of law-abiding citizens can’t be destroyed through the bureaucratic loophole that is opened by exploiting a crisis,” Sen. Braun said.
The Right to Protect and Bear Arms Act:
- Prohibits the President or their designee from declaring an emergency pursuant to the National Emergencies Act or major disaster pursuant to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act in order to impose gun control.
- Prevents the Secretary of Health and Human services from declare public health emergency pursuant to the Public Health Service Act for the purpose of imposing gun control.
- Prevents any government official from prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or transfer of a firearm or ammunition during a disaster or emergency.