In 2013, 15-year-old Sarah Merkle faced Maryland lawmakers to defend the 2nd Amendment. The video went viral all over the internet and has continued to reappear online because of recent calls for gun control.
“A teenage girl skyrocketed to the center of the gun control debate when a YouTube video of her three-minute pro-gun speech went viral, acquiring more than 2.3 million views,” ABC News reported in 2013.
During that time in 2013, Maryland had proposed Senate Bill 281 which aimed to put a ban on ‘assault weapons and limit gun magazines,’ according to a report from Daily Mail.
“In a interview on FOX and Friends, Merkle said once the new legislation takes effect, she will no longer be able to travel to gun ranges that she frequents for her training,” Merkle stated.
Maryland lawmakers were left speechless by Merkle’s testimony where she expressed her concerns how Maryland’s proposed regulations would interfere with the lives of her states law abiding gun owners.
The student also cited how she was eligible for various shooting scholarships at universities but the proposed laws would interfere with her eligibility to join their shooting teams.
Merkle has continued to make a big impact on the internet with her testimony to state that, “Ever since I first learned how to shoot, the issue with gun violence around the nation became clear. Guns are not the problem, people are.”
“I’ve become eligible for various shooting scholarships around the country to a wide array of even the most prestigious colleges that have shooting teams. Achieving stricter gun control laws would obliterate any opportunity that I could have had to attend a decent college on a shooting scholarship,” Merkle told the lawmakers.
“Purging our society of violence and murder cannot be done through gun control legislation,” Merkle, who said she’s been shooting guns since she was 8, continued to legislators. “By signing this legislation, you are not signing away gun violence, but instead liberating American citizens of our constitutional rights.”
No comments: