Congressman Yakym backs bill to safeguard gun rights in national emergencies

Tuesday, Congressman Rudy Yakym (IN-02) released a statement on co-sponsoring Congressman Michael Cloud’s (TX-27) bill, the Protecting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act (H.R. 2039). This bill would block the federal government from exploiting public health emergencies as a backdoor for unconstitutional gun control measures. 

“COVID unmasked the federal government’s desire for control, weaponizing emergency powers to impose sweeping mandates and restrictions intended to strip Americans of their fundamental freedoms—including the right to bear arms,” Rep. Yakym said. “I commend Congressman Cloud for taking the lead to prevent any future administration from using emergency powers as a loophole for unconstitutional gun control.”

“We saw during COVID how government agencies exploited emergency powers to strip Americans of their freedoms — including attempts to use public health declarations as a tool for sweeping mandates and restrictions,” Rep. Cloud said. “We’ve also seen how the federal bureaucracy has made it clear they will seize any opportunity to expand their control at the expense of our liberties. We must steward this window of opportunity to re-secure these rights for the American people and ensure no administration can use emergency declarations as a backdoor for unconstitutional gun control.”

Background:

In June 2024, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory labeling firearm violence as a “public health crisis” while proposing measures, such as bans on carrying a firearm in public, full blown gun confiscation laws, so-called “assault weapons” bans, magazine capacity limits, storage requirements, and a national gun registry. These proposals amount to a complete nullification of the Second Amendment while ignoring the fundamental issues facing our communities.

The Protecting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act would prohibit the President and the Secretary of Health and Human Services from declaring certain emergencies or disasters for the purpose of imposing gun control. The goal of this legislation is to keep Second Amendment rights protected during declared emergencies and prevent the federal government from using them to infringe on the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens.