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Subcommittee debate centers on ‘right to self‑defense,’ ATF enforcement and varying state self‑defense laws
Summary
Witnesses and members traded sharply different views on whether recent federal gun‑safety measures and ATF enforcement reduced violence. Proponents credited the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and ATF actions with saving lives; supporters of broader carry rights emphasized self‑defense, training and law uniformity.
The House Judiciary subcommittee convened a hearing on the “right to self‑defense” that ranged across federal gun‑safety efforts, ATF enforcement policy, mass‑shooting prevention and wide disparities among state self‑defense laws.
Representative Lucy McBath (D‑Ga.), the subcommittee’s ranking member for the hearing, opened by emphasizing the human toll of gun violence and credited the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act with reducing murders and expanding prevention resources. “For the past two and a half years, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act has kept guns out of the hands of dangerous people,” McBath said, adding the law funded crisis intervention and other programs.
Greg Jackson, former deputy director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, testified that federal efforts and the Office’s work contributed to a…
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