U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is arguing that a nefarious objective exists behind a federal law that would create an amber-alert-style network for gun crime emergencies.
“It’s because they want [American citizens] to be afraid of the Second Amendment,” he claimed, rather than the population supporting “responsible gun ownership” particularly for those who live in crime-ridden blue enclaves where their cell phones “will likely be buzzing off the hook” with alerts.
On Wednesday, the House by a vote of 260-169 passed the Active Shooter Alert Act, which was sponsored by Democrat David Cicilline and RINO Fred Upton. It remains to be seen, however, if the U.S. Senate will take up the bill which is generally patterned after the missing children signal.
“Supporters of the bill said it will provide important assistance to let people know of dangerous situations in their neighborhoods, while opponents called it unnecessary and likely to stoke fear among the American populace,” Fox News reported.
As reflected by remarks delivered on the House floor, Gaetz is in the latter category. The essence of his comments seems to be that the legislation allegedly amounts to a mission to generate fear of guns and shootings.
“Maybe someone should have sent an active shooter alert to the police in Uvalde,” Gaetz quipped. “Oh wait — They had the alert. They were in a school building with an active shooter and didn’t take action.”
The self-described firebrand Florida Man, the America First advocate who is one of President Trump’s strongest supporters in Congress, continued: “You know, America is at her best when it encourages her citizens to have safe, responsible gun ownership. But under Democrats, instead, we have a government that instead wants to stigmatize and scare people about guns.”
Gaetz went on to discuss what he considers the practical flaws in the bill that is ostensibly designed to improve public safety.
“Imagine you’re at a concert with 5,000 people, and everyone gets an alert on their phone — active shooter — because six blocks away there was gunfire that went off. Maybe an accident; maybe a tragedy. Would that make the circumstance safer? Of course not. It would lead to stampede, tragedy, hysteria, mistake — perhaps even more death. This bill is like yelling fire in a movie theater, except the fire is in another movie theater across the street.”
With nation on edge, panic breaks out at Barclays Center in NYC over active shooter false alarm https://t.co/pfWumbVzuv
— Jack Furnari (@JackBPR) May 29, 2022
The congressman then noted that violent crime is primarily afflicting municipalities where Democrats are in charge.
“The bill makes no mention of distance requirements…what is an active shooter? A drive-by in an inner city, a spousal murder in the suburbs? If you live in or near Democrat-run cities, it sounds like your phone will likely be buzzing off the hook. Some of our cities have shootings every day where multiple people are injured, and often this happens in the jurisdictions with the most intense and liberty-depriving gun control.
“The bill states that an active shooter is defined as an individual ‘determined to pose an active, imminent threat to people in a populated area.’ That sounds like a sizable amount of the people walking around the south side of Chicago every day. Who’s making this determination? Is it in a millisecond? By the time the alerts go out, it may be far too late to do any good. This bill is useless and foolish,” Gaetz insisted.
“Working on response police times is, of course, a worthy goal, a worthy goal for the states where the Constitution resides the police power. But alerting thousands of people to what may or may not have happened 30-minutes ago or 30 blocks away is, in fact, dangerous.”
Watch the lawmaker’s criticism of the bill embedded below and draw your own conclusions:
As he concluded his discourse, Rep. Gaetz identified what he considers the actual end game.
“And so one has to ask, what is the true purpose of this bill? Why do the Democrats want to use the power of government to bombard your cell phone with active shooter alerts 24 hours a day, seven days a week? It’s because they want you to be afraid of the Second Amendment. It’s because they want you to be afraid of responsible gun ownership.
“And they hope that if they program you, and bombard you long enough, that you’ll hate your own Second Amendment rights, or that you may tattle on your neighbor who is lawfully and rightfully exercising theirs. The American people should not fall for this.”
Separately, in a Pensacola News Journal op-ed, Gaetz called upon President Biden — who may or may not discuss the murder of Jamal Khashoggi with the Saudi Arabian leader on Friday — to hold the Middle East kingdom accountable for the terrorist attack at the Pensacola Naval Air Station.
“On Dec. 6, 2019, a Saudi flight student opened fire at NAS Pensacola, killing three sailors and injuring others in our military and law enforcement. He was supposed to have been properly vetted by the Saudis. He wasn’t. They were supposed to have engaged in rigorous oversight and monitoring of their students. They didn’t. Immediately after the attack, the Saudis promised me they’d pay financially for the ruin their servicemember caused. They haven’t – and are now fighting against our survivors in federal court.” Rep. Gaetz wrote on Thursday.
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Robert Jonathan is a staff writer for BizPac Review. He is a longtime writer/editor for news aggregation websites and has also developed content in the legal and financial publishing sectors as well as for online education. He earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Connecticut School of Law, “a law school the basketball teams can be proud of.”
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