Why I’m Fighting to Protect Gun Rights

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn

Many Oklahomans and gun owners across the country have asked why I have decided to participate in negotiations, and then vote to move to a debate, they view as designed to limit their rights.  I understand my role in this debate appears surprising in light of my long record of not only defending but expanding Second Amendment rights by, for example, giving Americans the right to carry guns in national parks.  I have also filibustered popular bills in order to defend the rights of veterans who have been stripped of their Second Amendment rights without due process because they were wrongly declared mentally unfit.

First, let me be clear about what the Senate will and will not be considering in the coming days.  The most onerous and blatantly unconstitutional provisions the gun control lobby favors – a ban on supposed “assault weapons” (any gun in the hands of a criminal is an assault weapon) and a plan to limit magazine sizes, policies I vehemently oppose – have zero chance of passing.  What is up for consideration is how to improve a broken system that literally allows illegal aliens, drug traffickers, child molesters, rapists, felons, members of al Qaeda cells and mentally-deranged persons to buy firearms.  If you believe the Second Amendment gives those people the right to arm themselves then we have an irreconcilable difference of opinion.  If you believe the Constitution allows for laws that prevent those people from buying guns then keep reading.

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Service Academy day set for April 20

Staff Report

Congressman Markwayne Mullin (OK-2) will host a Congressional Service Academy information session for Second District students interested in applying to one of the nation’s service academies.

“This is a chance for students, parents and school counselors to come and get the information they need on the service academies and the types of candidates they are looking for,” said Mullin. “We have some very talented and bright students in the Second District and I hope they will take advantage of this opportunity.”

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The butcher Gosnell

David Arnett, Founder

The grand jury report in the case of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72, is horrifying. “This case is about a doctor who killed babies and endangered women. What we mean is that he regularly and illegally delivered live, viable babies in the third trimester of pregnancy – and then murdered these newborns by severing their spinal cords with scissors,” the report states. “The medical practice by which he carried out this business was a filthy fraud in which he overdosed his patients with dangerous drugs, spread venereal disease among them with infected instruments, perforated their wombs and bowels – and, on at least two occasions, caused their deaths.”

The grand jury continued, “Let us say right up front that we realize this case will be used by those on both sides of the abortion debate. We ourselves cover a spectrum of personal beliefs about the morality of abortion. For us as a criminal grand jury, however, the case is not about that controversy; it is about disregard of the law and disdain for the lives and health of mothers and infants. We find common ground in exposing what happened here, and in recommending measures to prevent anything like this from ever happening again.

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Medicare free visit: I’d rather see a veterinarian

Marilyn M. Singleton, M.D., J.D.

Opinion: A friend went in for his Medicare free “wellness visit,” compliments of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). He assumed it was like a doctor’s annual check-up. After all, when he took his dog to the vet for a wellness visit, little Sparky was examined and tested for worms. So my friend made the mistake of asking the doctor to listen to his heart and lungs – just because that is what we expect physicians will do. Then he got a bill. Neither my friend nor his physician realized that if the patient was actually touched during the free wellness visit, it ceased to be free.

Medicare’s annual free wellness visit includes a review of medical and family history; making a list of current “providers” and prescriptions; measuring height, weight, body mass index, and blood pressure; and giving the patient a schedule and/or referrals for appropriate preventive services. The visit is “free”— the doctor must take “assignment” (be paid by Medicare, not by the patient) and waive the usual 20 percent “co-payment.” The Medicare Part B deductible does not apply.

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Lankford: President’s budget never balances

Staff Report

Chairman James Lankford (R-OK) joined his colleagues in the House in welcoming the President’s submission of his fiscal year 2014 budget suggestions after a two-month delay.

This is the first time in four years Washington has had three simultaneous budget proposals presented to plan for our nation’s future.

“After five years in a row of trillion-dollar deficits, we now have an opportunity to discuss three budget proposals and look for common ground among them,” said Lankford. “While we may not agree on every portion of the blueprint for our nation’s future, there are areas we can agree on. The House, the Senate and the President should work together to move on our common ground.

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