New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer offered a gun control amendment to an already embattled Senate cybersecurity bill on Thursday night.
In a speech on the Senate floor, Schumer attempted to distance himself from the attitude of the left during the 1980s and 90’s “who basically felt there is no right to bear arms,” he said, conceding that anti-gun groups during those years aimed to eliminate gun ownership.
He said that because anti-gun groups leaned further to the left, Second Amendment rights groups pushed further to the right in response, The Hill reported.
“If you look at the ads from the NRA and from the groups even further over — the Gun Owners of America — their basic complaint is that the Chuck Schumers of the world want to take away your gun, even if it’s the hunting rifle your Uncle Willie gave you when you were 14,” he said.
He stated that it is not his goal to get rid of all guns, but rather to have “some rational laws on guns” that would dictate whether a person is “an average normal American citizen,” therefore allowing them the right to bear arms.
Schumer — one of the amendment’s co-sponsors — is joined by Democratic Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez of New Jersey, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, and Kirsten Gillibrand.
The bill, the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, is the same bill Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain attacked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for prioritizing ahead of the defense budget.
Amendments to the bill are expected to be debated next week.