Senators Breaking Their Oaths of Office (But What's New)

The government has been trying to use "public heath" as a reason to curb guns for a long time.  Note that it is not "gun violence" but just "guns" because in truth they don't care about "violence" as long as it is not committed against them.  If they did care, they would lock up the criminals, and not restrict the tools we use to fend off the criminals.  Earlier this year, the governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham used "public health" as an excuse to crack down on law-abiding citizens in Bernalillo County who carry guns.  In her press conference, she even admitted that her executive order wouldn't stop the criminals, just the law-abiding citizens.  Hmmm.

Now comes the Senate of the United States using the same excuse to crack down on guns, despite the clear Constitutional demand that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. In an article at the Washington Examiner by Katie Pointer Baney, she admonishes us Don't let politicians us 'public health' to justify more gun control.

The Senate Judiciary Committee recently held a hearing titled “The Gun Violence Epidemic: A Public Health Crisis.” Unsurprisingly, the focus of the Democratic-led hearing was how to further restrict the ability of law-abiding residents to protect themselves and their loved ones. This included discussion of constitutionally problematic “red flag” laws, widespread bans on so-called “assault weapons,” mandatory gun storage rules, and universal gun registration — all in the name of protecting “public health.”

We’ve seen this before. Politicians often use the excuse of “public health” to strip away rights protected under the Constitution. We witnessed this during the COVID-19 pandemic when governors and state authorities implemented arbitrary restrictions that prevented children from going to school and forced small businesses to close their doors.

A more recent example regarding the Second Amendment unfolded earlier this year in New Mexico. In September, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) issued a sweeping “emergency public health order” that banned the concealed carry of firearms in public places in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Bernalillo County. She said the order would stem the rise in violent crime that the community was experiencing despite the fact that these crimes were almost always being committed by criminals with illegally possessed guns. At one point, Lujan Grisham even acknowledged that criminals were unlikely to adhere to the order, but she proceeded to restrict the rights of law-abiding gun owners anyway and used the guise of “public health” to justify it.

Gentle readers can read the entire article, and the embedded articles as they have time. One never knows where this is going. It could be that, as an election year is coming up, that Senators are playing to their constituents back home. It could be that they are laying the foundation just in case a horrific mass shooting can be blown up into a cause célèbres. Or they could be planning to put it to a vote and dare the Supreme Court to tear it down, thus giving cause to pack the court. In any case, they are not defending the Constitution of the United States as they swore an oath to do.