[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 78 (Thursday, May 22, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E817-E818]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HOWARD P. ``BUCK'' McKEON NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL 
                               YEAR 2015

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. PHIL GINGREY

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 21, 2014

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4435) to 
     authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2015 for military 
     activities of the Department of Defense and for military 
     construction, to prescribe military personnel strengths for 
     such fiscal year, and for other purposes:

  Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. Mr. Chair, I rise today to urge my colleagues 
to support my commonsense amendment included in En Bloc Amendment #7 
that would express the Sense of Congress that active duty military 
personnel who live in or are stationed in Washington, DC should be 
exempt from existing District of Columbia firearms restrictions.
  It is no secret that the District of Columbia has historically had 
some of the most restrictive firearm regulations in the nation even 
after the victory for Second Amendment rights in the 2008 ruling by the 
Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller. With approximately 
40,000 service men and women across all branches of the Armed Forces 
either living in or stationed on active duty within the Washington, DC 
metropolitan area, these individuals are subject to the very laws of 
the District of Columbia that make the lawful possession of firearms 
nearly impossible.
  Mr. Chair, my amendment would recognize that the DC handgun law, 
especially in regard to trained service men and women, punishes 
individuals well-equipped to protect themselves and others while 
emboldening perpetrators of violent crime. I urge my colleagues on both 
sides of the aisle to support this amendment.

[[Page E818]]



                          ____________________