Committee on the Judiciary United States

What Should America Do About Gun Violence? Committee on the Judiciary United States

On December 14, 2012, America's heart was broken when 20 young children and 6 dedicated educators were murdered. Every American abhors tragedies of this kind: an elementary school in Connecticut, in a movie theater in Colorado, in a sacred place of worship in Wisconsin, and in front of a shopping mall in Arizona. Americans are looking to their elected leaders for solutions and for action. If we can all agree that criminals and those adjudicated as mentally ill should not buy firearms, why should we not try to plug the loopholes in the law that allow them to buy guns without background checks? And if we agree that the background check system is worthwhile, should we not try to improve its content and use it so it can be more effective? What responsible gun owner objects to improving the background check system? The Constitution separates powers among branches of the Federal Government, and preserves State power against Federal power. The Framers believed that these structures would adequately control the Government so as to protect individual liberty, but the American people disagreed. They feared that the Constitution gave the Federal Government so much power that it could be tyrannical and violate individual rights. So the Bill of Rights was added. Each of those rights, including the Second Amendment, was adopted to further limit Government power and protect individual rights. The Second Amendment is secure and will remain secure and protected. In two recent cases, the Supreme Court has confirmed that the Second Amendment, like other aspects of our Bill of Rights, secures a fundamental individual right. Americans have the right to self-defense and, as the Court has said, to have guns in their homes to protect their families. No one can take away those rights or their guns.