By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Washington, DC has one of the most restrictive gun laws in the entire country. That infringement on the civil liberties of the Capitol’s citizens very nearly resulted in the slaughter of two dozen GOP congressmen, including Alabama’s own Representatives Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) and Gary Palmer (R-Hoover). Congressman Brooks was one of six congressmen whose names and office numbers were written on a sheet of paper in the attempted assassin’s pocket.
Without the heroism of two Capital Police officers assigned to Rep. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) there could be two dozen dead Republican Congressman as none of the Congressmen had their own weapons. Rep. Mo Brooks would like to see that changed.
Congressman Brooks told Fox News, “One thing — and I’m going to be introducing Legislation this week to do this — is to allow congressmen to carry a side arm should they so desire.”
Rep. Brooks said, “Right now when we’re in Washington, DC. Once we’re off the Capitol Hill grounds complex, we’re still Congressmen and Senators, we’re still high profile targets, but we have absolutely no way to defend ourselves because of Washington, DC’s rather restrictive gun laws. So I want congressmen to be treated as if they were Law Enforcement given that we’re high profile targets for the bad guys, the lone wolves, the terrorists, and I’ll be introducing Legislation to that effect this week.”
There has been some backlash to the proposal. State Auditor Jim Zeigler (R) objected to giving special gun rights to members of Congress.
Rep. Brooks said in a statement, “Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks has announced he is leading with a bill to allow Congress members only to carry arms in the District of Columbia. This is not what we need. The Second Amendment applies to all citizens equally and does not carve out special rights for the privileged.”
Zeigler said, “Please contact our two US Senators and your one Congress member. Ask them to oppose special gun rights for only Congress members and vote no on the Mo Brooks bill.
This is the same type of thinking that gave Congress a Cadillac healthcare benefit but gave you and me ObamaCare. Congress should have to live under the same laws as us citizens.”
Congressman Mo Brooks is running for the Senate seat vacated when Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) was confirmed to be US Attorney General.
Brooks’ Senate Special Election opponent, Bryan Peeples also opposed the idea. Peeples said in a statement, “After last weeks assassination attempt on Republican Congressmen I have seen several Legislators and others introduce or want to introduce Legislation before committee to allow Senators and Congressmen the right to carry firearms. I want to make it clear that we already have this right guaranteed to us by the 2nd Amendment.”
Peeples said, “Once I am in Washington I will work diligently to ensure that all rights granted to us by the Constitution are no longer under attack. Each and every single person has the right to bear arms to protect themselves from acts of violence and terror. There should be no law limiting or stripping these rights away and any such law that attempts to supersede the constitution is an attack on our fundamental rights. It is imperative now more than every that we not only protect the 2nd Amendment but strengthen the resolve on the 1st, 4th, 9th, and 10th Amendments.”
Rep. Peeples continued, “We should never allow our freedoms as private citizens to be removed for the false sense of government securities. The more we allow our rights to be weakened the more servitude we endure to a government that was intended to be by the people and for the people. We must always put the people of this country first for the people define the country and the people determine the government. If there is a bill introduced that is designed specifically for our lawmakers it should be thrown in the trash. We have an obligation to the citizens and their rights and as they say what is good for the goose is good for the gander. All citizens are allowed to protect themselves and we have to stand firm on this battle against our constitutional rights.”
