Between answering questions about his finances and whether he really did rip off an Amish dog breeder, George Santos has found the time to carry out some of his actual duties as a congressman, including signing onto different pieces of legislation.
The 23 bills that the New York representative has joined are varied, ranging from one calling for a repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act to another aimed at higher penalties for drug dealers and manufacturers whose wares are candy-flavored with the intent of targeting children. But one in particular stands out: legislation to make the AR-15 the “National Gun of America.”
Gothamist reports that Santos is a co-sponsor of the bill, which was first introduced by Congressman Barry Moore. Earlier this week the Alabama representative touted the bill during a visit to a gun shop in his state, and tweeted, “We must send a message that we will meet every attack on any of our constitutional rights.”
The full text of the bill has yet to be released, but the summary says the “AR-15 style rifle chambered in a .223 Remington round or a 5.56x45mm NATO round [would be] the National Gun of the United States.”
Additional co-sponsors include Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who once said that Jesus didn’t have enough AR-15s “to keep his government from killing him,” and Congressman Andrew Clyde of Georgia, who recently handed out assault-rifle-shaped pins to his House colleagues. Santos himself was photographed wearing one.
Since a national assault-weapons ban expired back in 2004, there have been many attempts to revive the law, due in part to the rise of mass shootings in America. The perpetrators in the deadly attacks at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut; Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas; and Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, New York all wielded the AR-15.
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