Rights with Responsibility: Responsible Gun Ownership
I took an oath to uphold the Constitution, and ultimately, that includes the Second Amendment. I support the Second Amendment. It is your right to bear arms. And as we all know, with great power comes great responsibility. We all have an obligation to be responsible gun owners. As a responsible gun owner, the rising rate of gun violence and mass shootings should concern you. In fact, the U.S. Surgeon General declared gun violence a public health crisis. According to the CDC, firearm-related injuries are the leading cause of death among people ages 1 to 19 in the United States. So I say quite simply: the United States has a gun safety issue. I truly believe that we can exercise the Second Amendment without sacrificing safety, without contributing to an increase in gun violence, and while lowering the number of firearm-related deaths. The answer is enforceable accountability and responsible gun ownership at home.
The Reciprocity Act
In the U.S., carrying concealed firearms is quickly becoming the norm. It is likely to continue to get even easier in the coming years. Today, state firearm laws apply to non-residents who visit another state. An Oklahoman gun owner is subject to California law when in California, and vice versa. If you are from a state with permitless carry or constitutional carry laws and you travel to a state that requires a permit, you still need a permit to carry, but that could change soon. There is an active effort to erode state sovereignty and force each state to allow permitless carrying. For example, Tom Cole co-sponsored the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2025 (“CCCRA”). If passed, the CCCRA would implement nationwide reciprocity for carrying concealed firearms.
The CCCRA would erode state sovereignty by allowing anyone who is licensed or “entitled” to carry in one state to carry in another. It will effectively prohibit states from enforcing their own laws, thereby preventing them from exercising their state sovereignty. Under the CCCRA, if you are a resident of a state that allows you to carry without a permit, then you will be able carry in every state. Supporters of this bill, including Tom Cole, believe it will make things simpler. It will only make things more confusing and certainly more dangerous. All this act does is expand where some people can carry. It fails to address gun safety, the requirements for owning a gun, or improve the safety of our communities.
The Reality: Our Youth at Risk
In 2020, findings show there were an estimated 5,465 homicides with a firearm committed by 12 to 24-year-olds, and more findings show that the number of firearm-related homicides committed by juveniles 17 and younger has drastically increased. The problem even extends into our schools. Statistics show that three percent of high school students have carried a weapon on campus, four percent of students 12-18 had access to a loaded gun without adult supervision, and seven percent of high school students said they were threatened or injured with a gun or knife while on school grounds. Between 2009 and 2019, there were 318 school shootings in the United States, and half were committed by current or former students of those schools. The safety of our children is compromised. This is true even though it is illegal for minors to own a firearm. What is missing is not more federal mandates, but a path of accountability for gun owners and support for at-risk youth.
The HOPE Act and Responsible Ownership
We must create a path not toward punishment but toward accountability and the correction of behavior through healthy and responsible guidance. You hear it all the time: a student is only as good as their teacher. The same applies here. Our youth need guidance, support, and someone to teach them right from wrong. They need responsible adults. You also hear people say that a teacher is only as effective as their ability to understand their students. This is the key. We know that children can make poor decisions, get “in” with the wrong crowd, and engage in questionable behavior. As adults, parents, and experts, we must try to understand younger generations. This includes emotional support and connection; monitoring and supervision; guidance and advice; economic and community resources; safety; and responsible role models.
Because it is our role to show up as responsible adults for our children, I propose the HOPE Act—the Holding Our Parents Equally Accountable Act. The HOPE Act, at its core, will state that if you purchase a firearm for a minor, and they use that firearm to commit a crime, then you will be vicariously liable and charged for the same crimes as the minor. It will also carve out a crime for negligent firearm storage, when a child uses a negligently stored firearm to commit a crime.
Let me be clear. Exercise your rights; they are yours, and I will fight to defend them. I beg, however, that you do so responsibly. All gun owners must understand that being an advocate for the Second Amendment means being an advocate for responsible gun ownership. You cannot have one without the other.
Conclusion
I support your right to keep and bear arms, and I also support responsible gun ownership. I believe that each American is responsible for how they exercise their rights. And despite the statistics, the increase in firearm-related deaths, and the number of dead children, Tom Cole is doing nothing to address gun safety and our at-risk youth. The CCCRA would override state sovereignty, increase the number of people carrying firearms, and it does not end at an invisible state border. I argue that expanding the number of people who may carry concealed weapons without addressing how they are stored or supervised is contributing to the problem. It is not leadership, it is avoidance. The CCCRA ignores the rising issue of gun safety, does nothing to address the responsibilities of ownership, and could weaken training and safety standards in communities across the country.
In contrast, I advocate for the HOPE Act to defend the right to bear arms, enforce accountability, and encourage responsible ownership. Instead of a one-size-fits-all federal rule, the HOPE Act targets the root cause by holding everyone accountable. By targeting those adults who illegally provide firearms to minors or negligently store said weapons. We don’t need looser laws, or even more people carrying firearms; we need a plan that emphasizes responsible ownership and corrects dangerous behavior before it leads to more tragedy.
I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution, including the Second Amendment, and I will keep my oath. Unlike my opponents, however, I will never follow an order that does not align with the people’s best interests, not without a fight. I am committed, I am passionate, I am prepared, and I believe that it is well past time that we focus on protecting America’s children.
_______
John Gramlich, What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S. Pew Research Center (2025), https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/03/05/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-us/.Vivek Murthy, Firearm Violence is a Public Health Crisis (2024), https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39028642/.Current causes of death in children and adolescents in the United States | New England Journal of Medicine, https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2201761. H.R.38 - 119th Congress (2025-2026): Constitutional concealed carry reciprocity act of 2025 | congress.gov | Library of Congress, https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/38.Gun violence and youth/young adults, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/model-programs-guide/literature-reviews/gun-violence-and-youth-young-adults#2-0.Government Accountability Office, K-12 Education: Characteristics of School Shootings, https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-20-455Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, Minimum Age for Gun Sales and Transfers (2016), https://www.atf.gov/resource-center/infographics/minimum-age-gun-sales-and-transfers.