Westmoreland Stands Firm on Second Amendment Rights
By Rep. Lynn Westmoreland
January 16, 2013
President Obama came out today with proposals in reaction to the tragedy at Newtown. Needless to say, I did not agree with much of what he said. My biggest problem was that by focusing on guns, he misses the forest for the trees.
If we truly want to stop horrible events like we saw in Newtown, we need to look at what is behind the violence. Over the last few decades, we have seen a breakdown of the family unit and an erosion of moral values that has left many of our young people without strong, positive guidance or the understanding that actions have consequences. Violent television shows, movies, and video games have taught some of our youth to solve their problems with violence. In an effort to ‘keep up with the Joneses,’ many families have ignored warning signs that their children might have abnormally violent tendencies or mental health problems. And those families who do try to get their children help are often turned away by the very system that is supposed to assist them.
It seems to me whenever this president wants to do something, he issues an Executive Order. I think he gets confused at the difference between a republic and a dictatorship. So let me be clear here. Any attempt to infringe on someone’s Second Amendment right to bear arms must be approved by Congress and I can tell you that will absolutely not happen nor will I ever support any bill that does so. In his usual fashion, the president wants to fix every problem with more government. But Executive Orders will not fix the true causes of mass murders like we have seen at Sandy Hook or in Aurora because the government cannot legislate morals. Instead of using these tragedies to push his liberal agenda for gun control, he should have focused on the true reasons these horrible events happen.