HJR 4: Urging the President of the United States to rescind 23 executive orders related to regulation of firearms; and urging the United States Congress to refrain from passing legislation that restricts the right of individuals to keep and bear arms.
00 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 4 01 Urging the President of the United States to rescind 23 executive orders related to 02 regulation of firearms; and urging the United States Congress to refrain from passing 03 legislation that restricts the right of individuals to keep and bear arms. 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 WHEREAS the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and art. 06 I, sec. 19, Constitution of the State of Alaska, guarantee the right of individuals to keep and 07 bear arms; and 08 WHEREAS President Barack Obama has issued 23 executive orders intended to 09 reduce gun-related violence, and some of those orders may limit or restrict the ability of law- 10 abiding persons in the state to keep and bear arms as they have the right to do under the 11 Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and 12 WHEREAS President Barack Obama has asked the United States Congress to pass 13 several gun control laws that, if passed, will restrict the ability of law-abiding people in the 14 state to own firearms and firearm accessories; and 15 WHEREAS the hearts of all Alaskans go out to the victims and families left behind in
01 the wake of gun-related tragedies like those that took place in Newtown, Connecticut, and 02 Aurora, Colorado; and 03 WHEREAS, when the federal government tries to curtail individual rights that are 04 guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, Alaskans 05 expect their elected officials to defend those rights; and 06 WHEREAS Alaskans will not accept a one-size-fits-all approach by the federal 07 government that uses gun-control in a misguided attempt to curb gun-related crime; and 08 WHEREAS new laws banning firearms will only punish law-abiding Alaskans, not 09 individuals guilty of crimes; and 10 WHEREAS banning certain types of firearms and high capacity ammunition 11 magazines will not keep them out of the hands of criminals or mentally ill persons; and 12 WHEREAS, in 2012, the Congressional Research Service reported that "according to 13 a 1997 survey of 203,300 state and federal prisoners who had been armed during the 14 commission of the crimes for which they were incarcerated, fewer than 1 in 50, or less than 2 15 percent, used, carried, or possessed a semiautomatic assault weapon or machine gun"; and 16 WHEREAS a 1997 investigative report to the National Institute of Justice, United 17 States Department of Justice, found, regarding the effectiveness of the federal assault 18 weapons ban under the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, a subtitle 19 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, that "the evidence is not 20 strong enough for us to conclude that there was any meaningful effect"; and 21 WHEREAS a 2004 investigative report to the National Institute of Justice, United 22 States Department of Justice, following up on the 1997 report to the National Institute of 23 Justice on the effectiveness of the federal assault weapons ban under the Public Safety and 24 Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, found that, between 1994 and 2003, there had been 25 "no discernible reduction in the lethality of and injuriousness of gun violence"; and 26 WHEREAS the United States Congress could more effectively curb gun violence by 27 focusing its efforts on programs that help identify and treat mentally ill persons instead of 28 banning certain types of firearms and high capacity ammunition magazines; and 29 WHEREAS Alaskans cherish their Second Amendment rights and use firearms 30 responsibly for numerous legitimate purposes, including hunting, target shooting, competitive 31 shooting, and personal protection at home and in the backcountry; and
01 WHEREAS firearms are part of the state's culture, heritage, and history and will 02 continue to be for future generations of Alaskans; and 03 WHEREAS members of the Twenty-Eighth Alaska State Legislature simply believe 04 the best approach to preventing future incidents should be identified at the state level; 05 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges President Barack Obama 06 to rescind 23 executive orders related to regulation of firearms; and be it 07 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States 08 Congress to refrain from passing legislation that restricts the right of individuals, guaranteed 09 by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, to keep and bear arms. 10 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of 11 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and 12 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of 13 Representatives; the Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the 14 Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General of the United States; the Honorable B. Todd 15 Jones, acting Director, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. 16 Department of Justice; and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, 17 U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska 18 delegation in Congress.