Skip to main content

Congressman Cohen Demands Action on Guns

June 2, 2022

Says “there’s something gun-crazed about our country that we need to deal with”

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, today urged his colleagues to advance the Protecting Our Kids Act but also advocated a ban on assault weapons because "assault weapons are made to kill."

In his remarks during the bill's markup, Congressman Cohen said in part:

"This is no rush to action. This has been delayed for decades…The Democrats are not rushing to anything. The public is demanding that we take action. They've seen what happened in Uvalde, Texas. They've seen what happened in Buffalo. They've seen what happened last night in Tulsa…

"Assault weapons were banned from 1994 to 2004. It was constitutionally permissible. It wasn't until 2008 in the Heller decision when Justice Scalia said people have the right, based on the Second Amendment, to protect their homes with reasonable weapons…The Second Amendment, like the First, is not absolute…There are limits to the Second Amendment and assault weapons are one of those limits that we had for 10 years and during that time we had less mass killings in this country, and we should have it again…The picture that Ms. Jackson Lee had up of those 19 children: the last time you'll be able or anybody would be able to recognize some of them because when they're hit by an assault weapon they cannot be identified. They are obliterated and they need DNA to identify them. They put holes in their bodies so large that there is no way they could survive. They are weapons of war and weapons of death and weapons of destruction that we should not permit out here. And when someone who's 18 years old, right after their birthday, and one of the first things they do is buy an assault weapon – that should be a red flag…

"There is something gun-crazed about our country that we need to deal with. This isn't going to stop all the killing but it will stop some…These are changes that our country wants."

See the Congressman's entire speech here.

The Protecting Our Kids Act would raise the age at which people can purchase assault weapons, prevent the straw purchase of guns, require the safe storage of firearms, close the bumpstock loophole and restrict high-capacity ammunition magazines.

# # #