The Founding Fathers wisely included the 2nd Amendment in the Bill of Rights, which guarantees, "The right of the people to bear and keep arms shall not be infringed." This fundamental freedom protects the rights of gun owners and restrains the presence of criminal activity and tyranny.

In the 112th Congress, I cosponsored H.R. 822, the National Right-To-Carry Reciprocity Act. The bill, which passed the House, would allow law abiding gun owners with valid state-issued concealed firearm permits to carry a concealed firearm in any other state, which also allows concealed firearms.

I will continue to support this kind of legislation, as I firmly believe that we need to expand the rights of gun owners rather than seeking new ways to impose restrictions.

All too often, some politicians and members of the media want to blame the presence of guns for acts of violence and use tragedy as a reason to restrict the fundamental freedom to bear arms. We must not, however, take away the right to self-protection for 300 million citizens, due to the criminal actions of a handful.