EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Cloud Introduces Bill to Protection Gun Rights During National Emergencies

EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Cloud Introduces Bill to Protection Gun Rights During National Emergencies

Breitbart

Awr Hawkins | March 11, 2025

Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) is introducing legislation Tuesday to protect Americans’ gun rights from being squashed by gun control in the event of a national emergency.

The legislation is the Protecting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act.

Cloud’s office spoke exclusively with Breitbart News about the Act, noting that actions witnessed during the Biden Administration were a catalyst for wanting to put these protections in place.

They pointed to a June 2024 advisory issued by Biden Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, in which Murthy declared gun violence to be a “public health crisis.”

Cloud’s office referred to this advisory as “a thinly veiled attempt to justify radical gun control measures—including public carry bans, firearm confiscation, so-called “assault weapon” bans, magazine capacity limits, strict storage mandates, and a national gun registry.” Moreover, Cloud’s office noted that Rep. Cloud believed the advisory represented an approach that was 180 degrees out of synch with the Second Amendment and with they type of actions needed to protect American communities and Americans’ Second Amendment rights.

Cloud was particularly concerned that Murthy’s advisory could serve to justify federal overreach–via gun control–during the event of a national emergency, and he is introducing the Protecting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act to prevent that threat going forward.

Cloud said, “We saw during COVID how government agencies exploited emergency powers to strip Americans of their freedoms—including attempts to use public health declarations as a tool for sweeping mandates and restrictions.”

He added, “We’ve also seen how the federal bureaucracy has made it clear they will seize any opportunity to expand their control at the expense of our liberties. We must steward this window of opportunity to re-secure these rights for the American people and ensure no administration can use emergency declarations as a backdoor for unconstitutional gun control.”

Aidan Johnston, federal affairs director for Gun Owners of America, praised Cloud’s Protecting Cloud’s Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act, saying, “Public officials must be prohibited from weaponizing their ’emergency powers’ to infringe on Constitutional rights. GOA is still fighting New Mexico’s tyrannical governor in court to prevent her abuse of a ‘public health emergency’ to unilaterally suspend the right to bear arms in Albuquerque. And gun owners are still waiting for the retraction of the so-called ‘public health emergency’ declared to promote gun control by President Biden’s Surgeon General.”

Johnston added, “And of course, gun owners will never forget the countless ways their rights were infringed by COVID-related lockdowns. Congress must pass Rep. Michael Cloud’s bill to protect the Second Amendment from these grievous abuses of power.”