Authored by Michael Clements via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Senate Republicans
are set to introduce on a bill on Thursday that would codify the right
to bear arms for self-defense outside the home.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 5, 2021. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The bill would incorporate elements from the Supreme Court’s 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller decision and the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen decision from 2022, he said.
In Heller, the court affirmed an individual’s right to own a firearm. The Bruen decision affirmed the individual’s right to carry a gun for self-protection outside their home. Graham said the bill would enshrine those rights in federal law. It would also give citizens the right to sue any government agency or official who tried to infringe on that right.
“When you live in an autocratic environment, you don’t own; the government does,” Graham said during a March 16, 2023, press conference.
“[The Act is] to give you a cause of action so you can fight back.”
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| Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) walks to the Senate Republican Luncheon in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington on Aug. 2, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) |
Graham was joined by Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). Kennedy said Americans must respect the court’s decisions, regardless of whether or not they agree. He said some Democrats have been taking the position that it’s okay to ignore rights they disagree with.
“Their copy of the Bill of Rights goes from amendment one to amendment three,” Kennedy said.
According to Graham, the Democratic Party is continuing an assault on Americans’ fundamental constitutional rights and the institutions set up to protect those rights. He said a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on protecting public safety in the wake of the Bruen decision is an example.
In that hearing, gun control advocates told how the Bruen decision had impacted other laws, especially the prohibition of firearms ownership for those subject to domestic violence protection orders.
In Bruen, the court established a “text and history” test for courts deciding a law’s constitutionality. Under this test, if a law does not conform with how similar laws have been enforced, it would not be considered constitutional.
Victims of domestic violence and gun control proponents told the committee that this test was used by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to remove protections.
In that case, Zackey Rahimi had been involved in several altercations in which he fired a gun while subject to a civil protection order. Based on the Bruen decision test, Rahimi pleaded guilty to that charge but successfully appealed.
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