House GOP Leaders Tell Members to Vote Against All 8 Gun Safety Measures Before Congress
Republican House leaders urged their members on Tuesday to vote against a series of gun control bills that the Democrats plan to bring to a vote on Wednesday.
The GOP released a “whip notice,” according to reporting from Insider, urging a “no” vote on all eight bills, which the memo referred to as the “Unconstitutional Gun Restrictions Act.”
The House minority whip, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), and House GOP leadership claimed in the notice that the Democrats have “thrown together this reactionary package comprised of legislation that egregiously violates law-abiding citizens’ 2nd Amendment rights and hinders Americans’ ability to defend and protect themselves and their families.”
Scalise gave a press conference on Wednesday and raised eyebrows by comparing gun control efforts to the response after the 9-11 terror attacks and said, “there wasn’t a conversation about banning airplanes.”
Scalise says there wasn’t a conversation about banning airplanes after 9/11 pic.twitter.com/eMyHCp4kw4
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 8, 2022
Scalise’s notice also “noted the opposition of the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America, including links to talking points from the NRA about both the gun package and the red flag law,” Insider reported.
“Due to the importance of this issue, votes on this legislation will be considered in future candidate ratings and endorsements by the NRA Political Victory Fund,” the memo adds.
The whip notice also warned members that Heritage Action for America, the conservative Heritage Foundation’s political arm, also opposed the measures.
Roll Call details the provisions of the bill, noting it “rolls together eight individual measures, including language to increase the age to buy some rifles, limit magazine sizes, codify regulations banning bump stocks and ghost guns, and provide standards for safe gun storage.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) spoke at a gun reform event on the National Mall Tuesday and vowed to go ahead with a vote despite GOP opposition.
“It is a message I send to elected officials all the time. You can’t vote for these bills because it is a problem for you politically?” Pelosi said. “Understand this, your political survival is nothing compared to the survival of our children.”
