Rep. Barry Moore: gun control bill is capitulation, not compromise

Press Release

Rep. Barry Moore (AL-02) issued the following statement after voting against the Senate gun control bill. The bill passed the House and is expected to be signed into law by President Joe Biden as soon as this afternoon.

"This bill is not a compromise, its capitulation," said Moore. "Relentless gun grabbers get closer to their single-minded goal of eliminating the Second Amendment, but those of us who want to protect our constitutional rights get nothing, and it does little to actually protect our students in vulnerable 'gun-free' zones. It is incredibly disheartening that so many self-proclaimed conservatives would surrender our Second Amendment rights and strip Americans of their due process to enact red flag laws that have been proven ineffective at reducing crime."

"The most fundamental job of a Congressman is to protect your liberties, and I take that duty incredibly seriously. An assault on one constitutional right is an attack on them all, and I will continue doing all I can to fight those seeking to seize power from the people and give it to the government."

Senate Gun Control Act:

In an effort to slowly chip away at law-abiding citizens' 2nd Amendment rights, this legislation takes the wrong approach in attempting to curb violent crimes. The bill throws emergency supplemental federal spending at states to encourage implementation of red flag laws and dramatically increases funding for numerous other grant programs, but the bill's vague language contains insufficient guardrails to ensure that the money is actually going towards keeping guns out of the hands of criminals or preventing mass violence. House Republicans are committed to identifying and solving the root causes of violent crimes, but doing so must not infringe upon the 2nd Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.

The Senate Gun Control bill provides $750 million over five years in federal Byrne JAG grant funding to states for crisis intervention proceedings, including state-level red flag programs. However, the bill fails to provide explicit due process requirements and defers to state and federal courts to determine whether the red flag program prevents infringement of the U.S. Constitution.
The bill makes substantial changes to the Byrne JAG program that have not received sufficient scrutiny.
It dilutes the criminal justice focus of the program by adding "civil proceedings" as a new purpose for grant funding, which could allow funds to be diverted away from supporting law enforcement.
Transforms law-abiding citizens under the age of 21 into second class citizens by creating a de facto waiting period of up to ten business days for legal, law-abiding firearm purchases and the consideration of whether an adult firearm purchaser's juvenile record should prohibit the buyer from purchasing a firearm.
Earlier this week, the House voted on the bipartisan H.R. 7666, Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act, which already contains the bulk of the mental health care provisions included in the Senate bill, without infringing on 2nd amendment rights.
The Senate bill provides $4.64 billion in emergency appropriations, including $1.6 billion for the Department of Justice, $990 million for the Department of Health and Human Services, and $2.05 billion for the Department of Education.
Much of this funding is provided as advance appropriations, meaning it automatically becomes available for spending in future years without meaningful restrictions to ensure grant money is used for its intended purpose.
Funds are provided for programs unrelated to school safety or preventing mass shootings.
Many existing and new programs, many of which are unproven, would receive dramatically more funding in this bill than their annual appropriations, creating a risk of waste, fraud, and abuse.
The bill's spending is offset by a budget gimmick that generates "savings" by delaying the Trump Administration's rebate rule for Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) by one year.

Source