CCRKBA for October is naming Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) the CCRKBA Gun Rights Defender of the Month.
In nominating this United States Representative from the Great Lakes State, John M. Snyder, CCRKBA Public Affairs Director, noted that, “In his public life, Congressman Mike Rogers has been a solid defender of the individual Second Amendment civil right to keep and bear arms. When a mad gunman tried to assassinate Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) last winter and did in fact murder innocent people and wounded others, for instance, Rep. Rogers forthrightly resisted attempts to place the blame on firearms and defended in a straightforward manner the gun rights of law-abiding American citizens. He truly deserves this recognition.”
After the Rep. Giffords shooting, Rep. Rogers appeared on MSNBC-TV to discuss it and reaction to it. “If you want to solve this kind of thing from happening,” he stated, “we have to intervene with somebody who has expressed tendencies toward violence, who has a pretty strong history of mental illness. And right now, we’re not talking about that at all. Everybody is talking about, ‘oh, this is about people having guns, this is about political speech.’ None of that had a factor here. When you look at the evidence that has been collected up, this wasn’t about politics…If we want to solve this from happening in the future, you can talk about all the gun laws you want – that’s not going to do it. What we have to do is intervene earlier in that cycle of violence when they have this kind of disability.”
Rep. Rogers then was asked: “Why would a civilian need an oversized ammunition clip like the one Jared Loughner (the alleged culprit) used?”
“Well,” responded Rep. Rogers, “you’re getting right back to the point of the Second Amendment, and the Second Amendment has been clearly defined not only, I argue, in the Constitution, but by case law. And so why we would want to rehash this whole event when that was not the problem on that particular day – again, that, to me we’re talking about the wrong thing.”
Congressman Rogers is one of over 240 cosponsors of H.R. 822, the proposed National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011.
The bill would amend the federal criminal code to authorize a person who is carrying a government-issued photographic identification document and a valid permit to carry a concealed firearm in one state, and who is not prohibited from possessing, transporting, shipping or receiving a firearm under federal law, to carry a concealed handgun (other than a machinegun or destructive device) in another state in accordance with the restrictions of that state.
Congressman Mike Rogers of Michigan is Chairman of House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He has been a U.S. Representative since 2001.
He was born in Livingston County, Michigan June 2, 1963 and graduated from Adrian College, Adrian, Michigan in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and Sociology. He served in the United States Army from 1985 to 1989. He graduated from the FBI Academy and worked as a Special Agent with the FBI in its Chicago office, specializing in organized crime and public corruption cases from 1989 through 1994.
A consistent congressional supporter of Americans’ Second Amendment rights, Rep. Rogers voted in 2005 for the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. This prohibits civil liability actions from being brought or continued against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers of firearms or ammunition for damages, injunctive or other relief resulting from the misuse of their products by others.
He and his wife Diane live in Brighton, Michigan and have two children.