Response to Inquiry about HR 5611 Homeland Safety and Security Act

JIM BRIDENSTINE 1st District, Oklahoma		216 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-2211
July 22, 2016
Dear Mr. *******, Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 5611, the Homeland Safety and Security Act.  I value your opinion and appreciate the time you took to contact me. Rep. Kevin McCarthy introduced H.R. 5611 on July 1, 2016.  This legislation is aimed at preventing terrorists from attacking the United States and obtaining passports.  If enacted, the bill would do the following: · Establish within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the Office for Partnerships to Prevent Terrorism (OPPT) to coordinate DHS efforts to prevent terrorism and radicalization associated with Islamist terrorist networks. · Allow the Department of Justice (DOJ) to delay for up to three business days firearm or explosive sales to persons listed on the federal terrorism or no-fly watch lists as a known or suspected terrorist (or those so listed in the last five years). · Direct the FBI to annually review the terrorist screening database to determine whether the identity of each listed individual is correct. · Prevent the State Department from issuing a passport to, and revoke a passport from, any individual who is affiliated with a foreign terrorist organization or who has aided, abetted, or given material support to such an organization. While H.R. 5611 includes some good provisions to strengthen our homeland security against Islamist terrorism, I am opposed to the bill in its current form.  First, the bill does nothing that addresses the root causes of homegrown terrorism.  Second, the bill infringes upon both the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and Fifth Amendment due process protections. H.R. 5611 gives the Attorney General unilateral power to deny Second Amendment rights based on inclusion on the Terrorist Watch List.  This list has proved error-prone and unreliable, having erroneously included law-abiding citizens and even members of Congress in the past. While this gun control proposal may be well-meaning, it is misguided. Additional gun control measures will fail to solve the problem of Islamist terrorism and the type of violence perpetrated in Orlando, San Bernardino, and Ft. Hood. The real issue is that ISIS and other Islamist terror organizations have declared war against the United States, Israel, Europe, and Western civilization in general.  Instead of pivoting to politically-motivated attacks on the Second Amendment, Congress should stop accepting unknown refugees from high-risk, terror-prone countries, deport foreigners suspected of terrorism, reverse the Obama Administration's politically correct "countering violent extremism" policies, secure the southern border, and revoke the citizenship of convicted terrorists who are U.S. citizens.  Pushing gun control and validating constitutionally dubious secret watch lists is the wrong path. I will continue my efforts to concurrently protect the Second Amendment and take real steps toward keeping Americans safe from Islamist extremist terrorism.
Thank you again for contacting me and expressing your thoughts on this important issue.  Please visit my website at http://bridenstine.house.gov to send me another message with your thoughts and opinions, read my positions on major issues, or sign up for my E-Newsletter. You can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the links below. I look forward to hearing from you again soon. Sincerely, Jim Bridenstine U.S. House of Representatives
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