Yesterday, Congressman Patrick McHenry (NC-10) joined Congresswoman Stephanie Bice (OK-05) and 159 House Republicans in sending a letter to the leaders of the House Armed Services Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee calling on them to ensure the complete removal of “red flag” provisions currently in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The letter expresses the concern that if Sec. 529 of the NDAA were to be enacted it would allow the military judicial system to issue ex-parte protective orders that prohibit firearm possession. This means an order could be issued to confiscate a servicemembers’ firearms without the servicemember even being present in court to defend themselves.
"Every day the brave men and women of the U.S. military put their lives on the line while serving our nation," said Congressman McHenry. "This provision is a dangerous erosion of the rights of our service members and the Constitutional rights and freedoms that they are fighting to protect while serving our country. This bad provision must be removed from the NDAA."
Dear Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Rogers, Chairman Reed, and Ranking Member Inhofe:
As you begin the conference committee process to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022, we write to strongly urge you to strike Sec. 529 of the House version, H.R. 4350. We are greatly concerned that if enacted, Sec. 529 would violate the Second Amendment rights of our nation’s brave servicemembers by allowing military judges and magistrates to issue military court gun confiscation orders.
Even more concerning, under this provision, such an order could be issued by a military court on an ex parte basis – meaning the order could be issued without the servicemember even being present in court to defend themselves. We believe this is a serious breach of due process that demands your full attention.
Every single day, brave American servicemembers serve in harm’s way to defend our nation, our way of life, and the very constitutional rights that Sec. 529 would erode. This dangerous provision must be excluded from the final package. Again, we ask for your support to strike Sec. 529 of H.R. 4350 from the final conference report of the FY 2022 NDAA. Thank you for your attention to this important matter and please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions.
