RELEASE: Cloud Introduces Bill to Prevent Federal Gun Control Through Emergency Declarations

WASHINGTON — Congressman Michael Cloud (R-TX) introduced the Protecting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act to block the federal government from exploiting national emergencies as a backdoor for unconstitutional gun control measures.

In June 2024, the Biden Administration’s U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory declaring firearm violence a “public health crisis.” This advisory was 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. These extreme policies directly violate the Second Amendment and fail to address the real issues affecting American communities.

With President Trump in office, as of February 2025, he issued an executive order to defend the Second Amendment by blocking the federal government from infringing on Americans’ fundamental right to bear arms. The Protecting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act will cement this safeguard by ensuring that no administration can use declared emergencies—specifically the Secretary of Health and Human Services—as an excuse to impose unconstitutional gun restrictions. It is important that Congress takes this up and codifies it immediately.

Congressman Cloud’s legislation defends the rights of law-abiding gun owners by preventing government overreach during emergencies. The bill explicitly prohibits the president from declaring a national emergency to impose gun control and blocks officials from restricting the manufacturing, sale, or transfer of firearms and ammunition during crises. This ensures that public health authority cannot be misused to undermine the Second Amendment.

With the previous administration and the left showing a clear ability to impose unconstitutional restrictions, gun owners have every reason to be concerned. It is Congress’ duty to provide oversight and safeguard Americans’ Second Amendment rights from any attempt to erode them in the future.

“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,” said Congressman Cloud. “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.”

“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. 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,” said Aidan Johnston, Director of Federal Affairs for Gun Owners of America. 

“The Protecting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act of 2025 is necessary to stop the collusion between a gun grabbing executive branch and their bureaucratic counterparts. NAGR stands firmly behind Representative Cloud’s bill to slam the brakes on future anti-gun Presidents and HHS Secretaries using arbitrary ‘emergencies’ as a backdoor to disarm law-abiding Americans. The Surgeon General’s ‘public health crisis’ label was a calculated ploy to push bans, confiscation, and registries. This legislation sends a clear message that our rights aren’t negotiable, and we won’t let bureaucrats dismantle the Second Amendment,” said Hunter King, Director of Political Affairs, National Association of Gun Rights.

Read more here.

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