Enact HR.2613 (Citizens Protection Act of 2011) immediately!

For over 20 years, law-abiding Americans have been prohibited from having a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school. The Gun Free School Zone Act of 1990 has made federal criminals of nearly every responsible gun owner in America because it is impossible to travel around any town without crossing the invisible boundaries of these thousand-foot school zones.

It took a wild, malicious, irresponsible stretch of the Constitution's interstate commerce clause (sadly, typical of Congress since Wickard v. Filburn, 1942) to justify this law. It is past time for Congress and the Whitehouse to undo the damage done to liberty by the distortion of the commerce clause in general and by the Gun Free School Zone Act of 1990 in particular.

Any reasonable person understands that if government disarms all the law-abiding citizens from defending themselves and their loved ones the only people who will have arms, and the will to use them, will be the bad guys. We have seen it time and time again – shootings in schools, churches, and even military bases where laws prohibit law abiding citizens from exercising the constitutionally-protected right of having and using arms. In each and every case attackers were able to kill with impunity because there was no one there that was prepared (armed) to stop them.

People don't die because they have a gun. People die because they are denied the ability to defend themselves by anti-liberty, anti-responsibility legislators and presidents! It is past time for politicians to stop empowering the criminal and place the power back where it belongs – in the hands of responsible armed citizens!

As much as they want to help, we can't bet innocent lives on having a police officer around every time those innocent lives are in danger. We must be prepared (armed) to take care of ourselves until the police arrive. The law must never restrict our right to do so – but, since 1990, it does.

HR.2613 (Citizens Protection Act of 2011) is a small step in restoring sanity and the constitutional right to keep and bear arms. It will restore our right to responsibly have a firearm where 20 years of history shows we far too often need it most – the schools.

Congress and the Whitehouse must take every possible step to see that HR.2613 (Citizens Protection Act of 2011) becomes law immediately.

When I vote, gun rights are extremely important because it is how I judge a politician's respect for the Constitution and for responsible Americans.