Issue Position: Second Amendment Rights and the Judiciary

Issue Position

The Second Amendment to our Constitution prohibits the federal government from denying law-abiding citizens the right to own and bear arms. Our Founding Fathers considered this right paramount to the preservation of democracy. We should concentrate on locking up criminals and deterring criminal behavior - not imposing criminal penalties on law-abiding citizens who are merely trying to enjoy their freedom and to protect their families and their property.

We must toughen penalties on crimes against our children in particular. Two major pieces of legislation passed the House of Representatives this Congress with my strong support: The Children's Safety Act, H.R. 3132, which passed the House on September 14, 2005 and The Children's Safety and Violent Crime Reduction Act, H.R. 4472, which passed the House on March 8, 2006. H.R. 3132 would provide much needed reforms to the nation's sex offender registration and notification laws and is aimed at preventing crimes against children, but unfortunately, it is stuck in the U.S. Senate. The House passed H.R. 4472 incorporating much of the Children's Safety Act and many other good pieces of legislation to deter and combat crimes against children. H.R. 4472 would make modifications to the new national sex offender registration program, expand the use of DNA to identify and prosecute sex offenders, and increase penalties for sexual offenses against children. Protecting our children is paramount and we must make improvements to the national sex offender registration program and further increase penalties to deter such heinous crimes. By passing this additional, more comprehensive legislation, we again invite the Senate to take up this important issue so that good reforms and added penalties may be enacted into law very soon.

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