Scalise: They ‘don’t want you to hear what I have to say’

Congressional Democrats typically invite victims of shooting attacks to testify regarding gun-control legislation, but when one of their own offered to be a witness, they balked.

Apparently, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee didn’t want to hear Republican Rep. Steve Scalise – who nearly died in the 2017 attack on Republican lawmakers at a baseball practice – express his support for the Second Amendment.

Scalise recounted his treatment by the committee in a commentary on FoxNews.com under the headline “Democrats don’t want you to hear what I have to say about guns and the Second Amendment.”

“Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing Wednesday on new gun control legislation Democrats plan to push on the American people,” he wrote.

“The top Republican on the committee, Doug Collins, R-Ga., asked committee Democrats if I could testify about this legislation in an appropriate setting to offer another perspective as both a survivor of a shooting attack and strong supporter of our Second Amendment rights.

“But the Democrats said no.”

In June 2017, Scalise was at a practice for the annual Congressional Baseball Game for Charity when he was shot and seriously wounded by James Hodgkinson, a “left-wing activist” influenced by the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center.

Crystal Griner, a police officer; Zack Barth, a congressional aide; and Matt Mika, a lobbyist; also were shot. At the time, Virginia authorities said the shooting was “fueled by rage against Republican legislators.”

The Twitter-monitoring website Twitchy promoted Scalise’s commentary Wednesday.

“Apparently, a man who has actually suffered and lived through gun violence shouldn’t be heard from … because he supports the Second Amendment more than ever.”

Scalise would have told the committee it needs to focus on punishing criminals, not punishing law-abiding citizens.

He said he’s alive “thanks to the bravery of U.S. Capitol Police and the Alexandria Police, heroes like Congressman Brad Wenstrup and the first responders who rushed to the scene, the incredible medical team at Washington MedStar Hospital Center, and most importantly the grace of God.”

In his testimony, he acknowledged that the objective of reducing gun violence is good.

“However, it is also important to me that we be honest with ourselves and the American people about what will – or won’t – actually prevent these tragedies. The shooter who targeted me that morning was armed with an SKS rifle and a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun, both of which were purchased in compliance with Illinois gun laws.”

He said the Democrats’ plan would not have prevented the attack on him.

“In fact, these new gun control measures being proposed in H.R. 8 would not have prevented any number of recent mass violence events. Several perpetrators of recent multi-victim shootings also purchased their guns legally. In some instances, the background check system failed, and lack of intervention from law enforcement failed to intercept potential threats,” he explained.

“Most criminals obtain firearms through unlawful means – whether through theft, straw purchases, or lying on the required paperwork. A DOJ study of federal inmates found that only seven percent who possessed a firearm while committing the crime they were serving time for purchased it legally from a firearms dealer under their own name. Based on similar gun control measures in states like California, H.R. 8 would not deter a criminal from engaging in criminal activity, and it won’t decrease gun crime. Instead, it only succeeds in limiting the ways that law-abiding citizens could exercise their Second Amendment rights,” he warned.

He cited recent cases of successful self-defense with a gun: A 25-year-old woman in Chicago who fended of an armed robber with her own gun, a Good Samaritan in California who used his legally carried weapon to stop a stabbing, an IHOP employee who fired on a shooter who had opened fire on restaurant workers and a customer at a Family Dollar store who used a personal firearm to shoot an armed robber before any innocent people could be injured.

“There are hundreds of stories like these every single year from law-abiding Americans all over the country,” he said, but the Democrat plan would do nothing to lower gun violence.

Instead, Congress should consider expanding authorizations so that a state’s approval for a concealed carry permit is valid in other states.

That would, he said, “help law-abiding citizens have the same tools to defend themselves as a criminal has of trying to inflict harm, regardless of where they travel.”

One Twitter user, “Nasty Woman,” wrote in response to a tweet about Scalise, “Shame it didnt (sic) work out.”

The Twitchy blogger replied: “Shame WHAT didn’t work out?”