Just days after appearing at the 34th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference in Phoenix, former Tulsa, Oklahoma police officer Dianna Muller told the House Judiciary Committee during a hearing on gun control that if the Congress bans so-called “assault weapons,” she would not comply.
Muller, founder of the “DC Project” which brings together women from each of the 50 states every year to lobby Congress on Second Amendment rights, told the Judiciary Committee that a ban on semi-auto rifles would turn millions of law-abiding gun owners into criminals.
She was supported by Amy Swearer, senior legal policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation. They were two pro-rights voices surrounded on a panel featuring more gun control advocates including Nan Whaley, mayor of Dayton, Ohio.
Republican Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan noted during a statement that, “As I read the Second Amendment, it doesn’t say the right to bear arms shall not be infringed unless the gun has scary features.”
He also contended that criminals will ignore such a ban because “they’re bad guys.” He argued that only law-abiding citizens would be affected by such a ban.
Anti-gun Democrat Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of Washington fought back insisting that the argument is specious because it suggests we should have no laws because criminals don’t obey laws.
Swearer related how her mother was able to become a competent shooter thanks to her ability to use an AR15 rifle. She also said some cosmetic features of semi-autos actually make the firearm safer, such as the handguard that prevents people from being burned by contact with a hot barrel.
But the anti-gun rhetoric was abundant. Charlottesville, Va., Police Chief RaShall Brackney favored a ban on “any weapon that could be used to hunt individuals,” which Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) challenged later in the hearing. He said that since any firearm could be misused, Brackney was essentially in favor of a complete gun ban, an assertion she dodged.
The entire hearing can be viewed on C-SPAN.
Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI) insisted that his “assault weapons” legislation would not ban hunting rifles, but was later reminded that the Amendment is not about hunting.
Over the weekend, Muller appeared before a packed audience at the Phoenix conference, co-sponsored by the Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. She read a draft of her opening statement, and received a roaring applause.
