WASHINGTON—Rep. Scott Franklin (FL-15), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, issued the following statement regarding inclusion of a “Red Flag” provision in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA):
“The right to keep and bear arms is a sacred constitutional freedom that I swore an oath to defend as a Naval Aviator and as your Congressman. The annual defense authorization bill we draft in the Armed Services Committee provides critical funding, equipment, training and pay for our military. For over 60 years, it has enjoyed strong, bipartisan support that ensures the defense of our great nation.
“The legislative process or ‘sausage-making,’ as it is often called, is a complex and multi-step process. As we work through the House and Senate versions, the finished product that gets signed into law is vastly different than what’s included at the start.
“For the second consecutive Congress, radical liberals took the bill we passed out of the Armed Services Committee and loaded it up with a bunch of leftist initiatives. One of those is a so-called ‘Red Flag’ provision that would potentially strip our service members of their 2nd Amendment rights without due process – something I cannot and will not support.
“Thankfully, the next step in the process is removal of partisan and contentious items like this ‘Red Flag’ provision. I, along with Ranking Member Mike Rogers (AL-03) and many of my Republican colleagues have committed that if this provision is not stripped out, we will vote against the entire defense bill’s final passage. It would be a drastic act, but underscores our commitment to our Second Amendment rights.”