I don’t think I’ve quoted Justice Scalia before.

But today I did.

Testifying on my gun control legislation, I read from his decision striking down a law prohibiting a citizen from keeping a gun in the home for self defense.

“Nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.”

I cited the Justice because witnesses had wrongly claimed that provisions in bills heard before mine violated the 2nd Amendment’s protection of the right to bear arms.

The fate of my bill won’t be decided by a judge but by the answer to a familiar question: Why do we need this bill?

In this instance, my chairman phrased it this way: Does our existing licensing system adequately prevent the sale of firearms to criminals?