FIRST ON FOX: A Texas Republican is taking aim at President Biden as an enemy of Americans’ gun rights with a resolution he’s introducing Thursday in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rep. Roger Williams, chairman of the House Small Business Committee, says his resolution highlights support for the Second Amendment’s “guarantee that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” and opposes “the Biden administration’s efforts to undermine that guarantee at every opportunity.”
The resolution takes aim at the Biden administration’s actions related to the Second Amendment in recent years, saying it has a “stated goal” to “restrict, burden, and undermine the ability of ordinary law-abiding citizens to exercise their right to keep and bear arms.”
The resolution comes amid the implementation of an interim final rule (IFR) by the Department of Commerce’s (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) to amend the DOC’s licensing policy for exports of guns, ammunition and related components under its jurisdiction.
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That regulation goes into effect Thursday and was highlighted in Williams’s resolution, which said BIS “has restricted the fundamental Second Amendment right enumerated in the Bill of Rights by implementing policies that limit commercial firearm exports without providing adequate reasoning to why such a prohibition is necessary.”
In an April press release, the DOC said the changes were “intended to reduce the risk of legally exported firearms and related items being diverted or misused to fuel regional instability, drug trafficking, human rights violations, political violence, and other activities that undermine U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.”
The DOC issued a pause on nearly all gun exports in October, claiming it needed to assess the “risk of firearms being diverted to entities or activities that promote regional instability, violate human rights, or fuel criminal activities.”
That pause will be lifted Thursday when the new rule goes into effect. In addition to the new rule, the DOC said “BIS will revoke currently valid licenses that authorize exports of firearms to non-government end users in the destinations identified by the State Department” on July 1.
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With its text cited in the resolution, the Second Amendment states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
“Our founding fathers envisioned a country where every citizen has the right to protect themselves, their property and their family. The Biden administration has gone to extreme lengths to criminalize law-abiding gun owners, ignoring Congress, and using federal agencies like the DOJ and ATF to abuse the rule-making process,” Williams told Fox News Digital. “I am proud to reaffirm my strong support for the Second Amendment and condemn Biden’s unconstitutional attack on law-abiding gun owners and buyers.”
Additionally, the resolution calls out President Biden for signing “multiple Executive orders directing federal agencies to act far outside the scope of their constitutional and statutory authority to dramatically expand restrictions on the lawful purchase and possession of firearms by ordinary civilians.”
Williams’s resolution goes on to highlight the “number of rules issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives in recent years aimed at restricting Americans’ right to keep and bear arms.”
If passed, the resolution would declare the House of Representatives “reaffirms the support for the Second Amendment and the Constitutional guarantee that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” “disapproves of President Biden’s gun control agenda and hostility towards the lawful gun industry,” “disapproves of President Biden’s gun control efforts,” “opposes the Biden administration’s continuous abuse of executive branch authority to restrict citizen’s fundamental Second Amendment right,” “disapproves of recent administrative rule and policy changes by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to restrict citizen’s Second Amendment right,” and “disapproves of the Bureau of Industry and Security policies to limit lawful firearm exports and bad-faith attacks on civilian gun ownership.”
Williams’ resolution, according to the congressman’s office, has received support from several gun rights organizations, including the National Rifle Association (NRA), the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA), and the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR).
“Time and time again, the Biden Administration has overstepped its authority to attack the rights of law-abiding gun owners. The NRA thanks Rep. Roger Williams for his resolution affirming the U.S. House of Representatives’ support of the Second Amendment,” said NRA-ILA Executive Director Randy Kozuch.
Lawrence G. Keane, the senior vice president and general counsel for NSSF, also commended Williams’ resolution and insisted the Biden administration has “heaved on nearly every government lever to attack” the industry that provides means for Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
“The U.S. Constitution’s precepts of certain inalienable rights being granted to us by our Creator and not a government are no less important today than they were when the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791. Our freedoms are worthy of our defense, and the Second Amendment guarantees that no law-abiding citizen will be deprived of the natural right of self-defense or the rights to keep and bear arms to defend themselves and preserve those liberties,” Keane said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.
“The Biden administration has heaved on nearly every government lever to attack the industry that provides the means to exercise our Second Amendment rights,” Keane added. “The strong and principled stand by these members of Congress, led by Representative Roger Williams, in keeping with our American traditions protecting those freedoms from an overreaching government that shows flagrant disregard for the rights of ‘We, the People.’”
Last week, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, led 22 other Senate Republicans in calling on the Biden administration to withdraw what they considered to be the “deeply misguided rule and its associated license revocations.”
Co-sponsors of Williams’s measure include Reps. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.; Byron Donalds, R-Fla.; Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn.; Richard Hudson, R-N.C.; Randy Weber, R-Texas; and Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.
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