© Provided by Washington Examiner Rep. Burgess Owens slammed President Biden's push for stricter gun laws on the House floor, evoking memories of growing up in the Jim Crow South to highlight the importance of the Second Amendment.
"As these bullies and cowards approached the house, they heard the click of rifles and left as fast as they came. ... My grandfather's right to own a firearm ensured his rights to protect his life, liberty, and property," Owens said, recalling how firearm ownership was often his family's only option to protect themselves.
Owens was speaking out against bills H.R. 8 and H.R. 1446, two bills aimed at expanding background checks and making the private sale of firearms more restrictive.
"In this last week, I received over 1,000 emails from constituents in strong opposition to these anti-gun bills," Owens said.
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One email highlighted by Owens featured a concerned constituent arguing that such bills would make it "impossible" for the person to sell guns to trusted family and friends.
"These bills appear designed to impose on natural rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution," the letter read. "Stand up for our rights and oppose these measures with every tool in your grasp."
Owens promised he would "absolutely" fight the measures, saying that "these rights protect my life, liberty, and property" and were "granted to me by God and cannot be taken away from me by D.C. bureaucrats."
"I grew up in the deep South, at a time when black Americans were unable to defend themselves," Owens said, adding that restrictions and Jim Crow laws written after the Civil War often "prohibited people of color from owning firearms."
"In the mid-1950s, Martin Luther King Jr. kept firearms for self-protection, but his application for a concealed weapons permit was denied because of racist gun control laws," Owens continued.
The Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021, H.R. 8, passed in the House by a 227-203 vote, with eight Republicans joining Democrats in favor of the legislation. H.R. 1446 is being considered by the House Thursday and is expected to pass the chamber in a similar vote.
Both pieces of legislation face unlikely prospects of passing the Senate, with the bill receiving likely universal Republican opposition in an evenly split chamber.
"H.R. 8 will be on the floor, and we'll see where everybody stands," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. "No more hopes and prayers."
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The White House said gun control legislation is one of Biden's priorities.
"It is a priority to him on a personal level," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said last month.
Tags: News, NRA, Gun Control, Joe Biden, Background Checks
Original Author: Michael Lee
Original Location: Burgess Owens slams gun control legislation: Right to own a gun 'granted by God,' not DC