[ED: Earlier this year, when Maryland’s legislature was considering a range of new restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms, a local group called Patriot Picket attended the committee hearings in Annapolis letting legislators know that they would not comply. Read our post on the the group and the anti-gunners’ resulting freak-out here. On Wednesday, Patriot Picket founder Jeff Hulbert attended the House Judiciary Committee hearings on the assault weapons ban bill currently being considered by Congress.]
By Jeff Hulbert
On Wednesday, I was ejected from the Federal Assault Weapons Ban hearings on Capitol Hill when I arose from the public gallery to declare that I and millions of other AR-15 owners WILL NOT COMPLY with attempts to confiscate our firearms. I was wearing our “We Will Not Comply” shirt that also showcases our Patriot Picket logo, along with the challenge “Come & Take It.”
I rose to my feet in the House Judiciary Committee hearing room to respond directly to the Assault Weapons Ban bill sponsor, Rhode Island Democrat David Cicilline, after his blistering and distorted presentation about so-called “assault weapons”.
While I was speaking, the acknowledged gun-hating Congressman Ted Deutch rapped the gavel repeatedly. However, I managed to speak for about 45 seconds during the time the Capitol Police were attempting to eject me from the room.
Below is the transcript of what the House Members heard more clearly than those behind me:
Congressman, I am here to testify on behalf of millions of American rifle owners!
AR-15s and other rifles like it are in “common use” in the United States, and are protected by the 2nd Amendment as described by the Supreme Court!
We will not comply with any of the Democrat Leftists….we will not comply with any efforts to ban or confiscate our legally owned property. We will not give them up! I speak on behalf of millions of owners who WILL NOT COMPLY with Radical Leftist plans to confiscate or ban our legally owned property!
This episode was captured in photos and on video thanks to my Patriot Picket team joining me in the gallery (as seen in links below). Also, my “outburst” and ejection were recorded on the live-stream C-SPAN broadcast of the hearings, with that link also listed below.
This was not a spontaneous outburst, but a planned demonstration by me and my team that was put into motion within hours of the Democrats announcing their Federal Assault Weapons Ban hearings. We arrived more than three hours ahead of time to secure the first spaces in line.
While at the hearings, we were allied with the state representatives of the DC Project, a group of women from all 50 states who journey to the nation’s capital to lobby Congress about firearm rights. Our presence of more than a dozen prevented the anti-gun lobby from filling every seat in the gallery with gun haters.
Sitting beside me was legendary 2A plaintiff Dick Heller of Heller v. District of Columbia fame. He is pictured below, posing between me and my brother, Kevin Hulbert.
Here is the link to C-SPAN’s coverage of the full hearing (my ejection happens at the 1:29:58 mark):
Not long after I was ejected, the founder of the DC Project, Dianna Muller declared this from the testimony table as an invited speaker:
My goal here is to educate people. We are law-abiding, responsible gun owners and please don’t legislate the150 million people just like me into being criminals…..
….And like the gentleman that just got escorted out, I will not comply with the Assault Weapons Ban.
Watch the latest video at foxnews.com
As the leader of the Patriot Picket, I chose to go to Capitol Hill to conduct what I call “citizen testimony” to counter the overwhelming onslaught of distorted, biased testimony brought forth by the paid lackeys for Michael Bloomberg, the Brady Organization, Moms Demand Actions and the other gun-confiscation groups. I have now switched from calling these organizations “gun control groups” because of the recent revelations nationwide that these groups are focused on confiscation, not just limitations on the 2nd Amendment.
You may find our Patriot Picket Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/ThePatriotPicket/
Our Patriot Picket web page is here: https://patriotpicket.org
Despite calls of some of the anti-gunners in the room to “Take him to jail,” I was not arrested, but treated with respect by the Capitol Police as they escorted me from the Rayburn Building.
It is my hope, and the hope of my fellow crew members in the Patriot Picket that demonstrations like this will energize my fellow firearms owners—and especially those owning what the gun haters call “assault weapons”—to speak up and speak out whenever they encounter people who want to confiscate or ban our firearms. We must not allow firearm opponents to chip away at our rights and certainly not allow them to take them in violation of the 2nd Amendment.