Congresswoman Claudia Tenney Discusses Supreme Court Conceal Carry Case with USCCA
Washington, DC – Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-22), a strong supporter of the Second Amendment with a proven track record of defending gun rights for law-abiding citizens, spoke with President and Founder of the United States Conceal Carry Association Tim Schmidt.
Tenney is leading 175 of her House colleagues in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court defending the right to conceal carry a firearm under the Second Amendment in the Constitution in the case New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen.
“Please help me welcome US Representative Claudia Tenney. She serves in New York’s 22ndCongressional District. She is an accomplished attorney, long-time small business owner, she is the mother of a US Marine Reservist. Notably for our listeners today, Representative Tenney is a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment, and she is a gun enthusiast. Representative Tenney recently led 175 of her House colleagues in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in the case I just mentioned before, defending the right to conceal carry under the Second Amendment. Representative Tenney, welcome and thank you for taking the time to be on this broadcast today. And also thank you for being such a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment,” said Schmidt.
“Well thank you. It’s an honor to be on, Tim. We have rights at stake right now, so we need really strong advocates. People would be surprised to find out that New York State is actually one of the original colonies where the Second Amendment, even in New York’s Constitution, is even stronger than the terms in the US Constitution. So, the fact that we even have a law that would put such restrictions on lawful carry, especially outside the home is unbelievable. Thankfully the Supreme Court seems to be moving in a direction to give us all our rights back. Not just in New York, but across the nation,” Tenney replied.
“I’m also very excited that the Supreme Court does seem to be heading in the right direction. You could argue that this is probably the most, within the last ten years, one of the most important Supreme Court Second Amendment cases,” said Schmidt.
Tenney and Schmidt continued to discuss the Congresswoman’s background in supporting the right to bear arms, including her time in the New York State Assembly where she led the fight against disgraced Governor Andrew Cuomo’s overreaching gun control law, the SAFE Act before returning to the discussion of the Supreme Court case.
Schmidt continued, “Let’s talk a little bit more about the actual court case. If I’m correct, a couple of weeks ago on November 3, was when the oral arguments were starting to be heard. I’m going to read a quote from Justice Samuel Alito that he addressed directly to New York Solicitor General Barbara Underwood. A very powerful quote, and I’d love to hear your comments on this. So, Justice Alito says, ‘so I want you to think about people like this. People who work late at night in Manhattan. It might be somebody who cleans offices it might be a doorman at an apartment. It might be a nurse or an orderly, it might be someone who washes dishes. None of these people have a criminal record. They’re all law-abiding citizens. They get off work around midnight, maybe even after midnight. They have to commute home by subway, maybe by bus. When they arrive at the subway station or the bus stop, they have to walk some distance through a high crime area, and they apply for a license and they say, “look, nobody has said I’m going to mug you next Thursday. However, there has been a lot of muggings in this area, and I’m scared to death.’ Now these people don’t get licenses, is that right?” That’s what Alito said. Can you believe that?”
“I love the quote, because that applies not only to New York City, but across New York State. Because one of the things that’s really made this worse and why gun sales are at an all-time high and particularly concealed carry permits, people are seeking to get those in New York because we had this huge overhaul of our criminal justice system in New York. You know, this new no bail, cashless bail, which means that criminals are out on the street, new rights for criminals against victims, closing prisons, people are on the streets all over. Letting criminals out of jail. People with even felony and murder records and rapes, rapists are out on the streets now, because it was all (allowed) because of the pandemic or (saying) oh, nobody in jail deserves to be in jail. So, we’re more at risk now than ever, and the crime rate is very high across New York State. So, I love that Justice Alito brought this home to the average American citizen that just wants to defend themselves when they’re out in public and when they have to come home from work or go to work, or actually go to anything with their family. So, it was great that he brought it to something that everyone can relate to.,” Tenney stated.
She continued by saying, “In my experience, and I love to shoot, is that people who are lawful gun owners are the safest who handled guns because they keep themselves updated on their training, updated on their shooting and their qualifications. They’re really the safest people in our society. We never hear the stories about the people who actually save the lives of others. We have many scenarios of that in our own community in Upstate rural, suburban New York. So, I love that Alito did that. That gives me a good sign that the conservatives may go and move us to a direction where we actually have more rights in this case.”
To watch the entire interview between Tenney and Schmidt, please click the link here or the video linked above.
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