(Katherine Welles photo / Shutterstock)
August 23, 2022
By Mark Chesnut
In an attempt to garner favor for a measure repealing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act and turn more Americans against the nation’s lawful gunmakers, a Congressional hearing held Thursday was a kangaroo court if there ever was one.
The feature was chaired by New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney, chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, who left little doubt what the proceedings were going to be all about from the very outset.
"The gun industry has flooded our neighborhoods, our schools, even our churches and synagogues with these deadly weapons, and has gotten rich doing it," Maloney said in her opening statement. “That is why I launched an investigation into the gun industry. This morning I released a memo with our initial findings, and what we found is appalling. Our investigation shows that five major gun manufacturers collected a total of more than $1 billion on the sale of assault rifles over the last decade.”
Aside from Maloney’s obvious disdain for capitalism and for private companies profiting from their products, she also focused on what she called “dangerous marketing tactics to sell assault weapons to the public.”
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“Even as guns kill more Americans than ever, none of those companies take even basic steps to monitor the deaths and injuries caused by their products,” she said. “This is beyond irresponsible.”
Testifying at the hearing were gun industry CEOs Marty Daniel of Daniel Defense and Christopher Killoy of Sturm, Ruger & Co. Both acquitted themselves—and America’s law-abiding gun owners—quite well against extremely hostile questioning.
“Fundamentally, I believe that there is good and evil in our lives, and what we saw in Buffalo, Uvalde and Highland Park was pure evil,” Daniel said in his opening remarks.
Daniel further said what many of us have been thinking for so long—that the erosion of personal responsibility in our country and our culture is responsible for much of the violent crime we are now experiencing.
“Mass shootings were all but unheard of just a few decades ago,” he said. “So, what changed? Not the firearm. They are substantially the same as those manufactured over 100 years ago. I believe our nation’s response needs to focus not on the type of gun, but on the type of person who is likely to commit mass shootings.”
For his part, Killoy attempted to explain to the anti-gunners on the panel that it isn’t guns that commit murders, rather the criminals using the guns.
"A firearm, any firearm, can be used for good or evil,” Killoy told the panel. “The difference is in the intent of the individual possessing it."
U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, the committee’s ranking Republican member, was less than enamored with the thinly veiled attack on American gunmakers and the Second Amendment, and said what many pro-Second Amendment observers of the hearing were likely thinking.
“I want to know when are you, Chairwoman Maloney, going to apologize to the American citizens for not dealing with the real issues and showing responsibility and accountability?” Hice asked. “When are we going to have hearings in this committee, holding people responsible in cities, municipalities, states and right here in our own Congress, for being soft on crime? When are we going to have hearings to do away with the ridiculous, outrageous policies of defunding the police?”
Pro-2A Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Arizona, had similar feelings about the entire debacle. “This hearing is yet another transparent attempt to malign law-abiding Americans and American companies,” he concluded.
About the Author Freelance writer and editor Mark Chesnut is the owner/editorial director at Red Setter Communications LLC. An avid hunter, shooter and political observer, he has been covering Second Amendment issues and politics on a near-daily basis for more than 20 years.
