Our last panel. Dick set it upd quite nicely. ,m going to go to Graham Graham hill. Let me tell you who he is. Graham was born and raised hunting and shooting in texas. He remains a very active hunter and shooter with his three boys and his wife. He is an active shooting sports competitor and sporting clays. Managing partner of a law firm miller strategies. He has held several positions in congress and he served in the Bush Administration as well. Please welcome graham hill. [applause] niger i will introduce everybody. Karen lightfoot, the lovely karen is the founder and owner of the well armed woman, the largest and most trusted womens shooter resource and product company. Carry is also the founder and chairman of the board of the well armed woman shooting chapters, the largest nonprofit womens shooting organization with 380 chapters in 49 states, folks. [applause] karen that is a lot of estrogen. Niger karen is a consultant to the firearms industry and author, very popular speaker, and frequent guest in national media. Please give a warm welcome to carry lightfoot. [applause] my partner in crime to my left is willis lee, retired Army Lieutenant colonel. Willis is the president of the National Republican republican assembly. He is the cochairman of the Second Amendment coalition, former state chairman and current rnc member, founder of the rnc conservative caucus. Ranger, retired army combat veteran, west point graduate with degrees. Willis went to fast. Niger engineering, public administration. Had to cut his bio a lot more than this. Of all his a compass meant i think willis is most proud of his wife and his accomplishments i think willis is most proud of his wife and the lutheran church. Welcome, willis lee. [applause] right, graham, lets get started with you. Did ak emma and dick wonderful job. They said the heller decision, or dick said what they won or emma said what they won was the right to keep, but as we all know, the Second Amendment says keep and bear arms. Important distinction. Talk about that. Graham thank you for having us and having this panel. That is an important distinction. The decision had two landmark characters. It established once and for all there is an individual right protected in the constitution that had been unsettled previously. But the facts in the case of discussedand emily was you can own your own gun in your home for selfdefense. The court said yes. That leaves open a huge range of practical activities that we all associated with the Second Amendment that make enjoying the Second Amendment, exercising that freedom, practical. Those were left undecided by heller. In the time since then, what we have seen is state legislatures have decided to fill out the larger meaning of heller. In conservative states like texas where i am from, the practical activities are very robust. You enjoy great Second Amendment freedoms. In california or illinois or maryland or new york, those state legislatures are combining those associated activities very narrowly. Just this week on tuesday, the Supreme Court denied review of a case out of california that the ninth circuit held that restricts your Second Amendment rights. Yesterday the Second Circuit, just yesterday, upheld a new york city law that said if i have a permit in new york city it was a premises permit, i cant take my pistol to Westchester County to arrange and bring it back into the city. The Second Circuit said that does not violate Second Amendment rights. They are defining that in a way that is incredibly narrow, and i would argue it is impractical. That is the battle if i can say it that way that has been occurring since the heller decision. We all have two things we can do. We have to fight in the legislatures, make sure we get people elected that appreciate the size and scope of the Second Amendment, what it should really mean. That will allow people like kerrie who do the wonderful work in powering women. Willis does a tremendous amount of work in those legislatures to make sure they appreciate this, and we have to make sure we get judges appointed to the federal level that respect niger donald trump is doing a pretty good job of that. [applause] a quick followup. You say the bottom line it is important and critical as the heller decision was, it essentially is one half of the or one slice of the apple that we still have to carry the ball further to make sure the second part of the Second Amendment is ratified. Graham imagine that was the First Amendment and all protected speech you enjoyed was as long as you were in your home. Think of all the other meanings of that right, what that freedom really means. You would not be covered by it. That is a way to think about what is ahead. It has been set a lot, freedom is always one generation away from being gone. All of you out there, this next generation, you have to fight that fight. We are beer we are here week the people that went before us some of people like willis that fought for these liberties, like. Arrie trying to help people the next generation will have to continue as well. Carrie all coming around through the states, seeking through the states. We have to be active. The local Second Amendment organizations on the ground at home, because we get distracted. Y federal stuff up here the dangerous stuff happens at the state level. Niger that is a good segue for where i want to go with you. You have a powerful organization. I think of all these women learning to keep and bear arms and be proficient and professional with it. Of the contrast. I think of your organization and all these women out there learning to shoot and shoot accurately. I think of that in the contrast, if you will, of certain aspects of the Metoo Movement and victim all edgy that is promoted victimology that is promoted. A french actress said that it is really promoting victimology. I was wondering if you could promote your organization and the contract, empowerment versus being a victim for women. Who we are. Is we are about breaking the chains of victimhood for women. The women out here, women are so tired of being sexually harassed. They are tired of being assaulted. They are tired of being raped. We are tired of being murdered. We are the prey. We are the prey of violent crimes, so women across the country are saying, you know what . Not me. I will not be a victim again or other ever. [applause] carrie and so i get to see women making that transition into their own self protector because women have historically been the protected gender. The men in our world, Law Enforcement. We already know of the failures and counting on our government and local services to protect us. We have to be our own First Responders. So educating and equipping and empowering women into that role, they are taking their lives back. We have women 18 to 92 in our organization. Do you know how awesome that is to see a 90yearold woman take her life back . To feel like she can go to the store if she needs to . As i said earlier, women are the prey of violent crime. We kind of are born with that target on our back. Typically we are smaller and weaker. As we age, that target gets bigger and bigger. Womenng able to assist into taking that life back and shrinking that target, it is a remarkable thing to see. I see women liberated from the bondage of fear every day. It is absolutely a beautiful thing. Niger i bless you for what you are doing at your chapters. And your chapters. I get the feeling men might behave a little bit better knowing how well armed women are. [laughter] carrie you know, it changes them. Women are really changed diet, just that confidence, you know. I teach the women in our organization it is about confidence. When a womans competent desk confidence grows, i can take care of myself the matter what comes my way, it changes everything. It changes how they relate to people. It changes how they relate to bosses and parking lots. It is a beautiful thing and significant. Women are tired of it. No more abuse. No more violence. Take it back. [applause] of course the elephant in the room is the horrific tragedy that occurred in florida, of course before that in my hometown of las vegas. And any human life, innocent human life that is lost is a terrible, terrible tragedy. But reality is those precious lives that were lost in florida and vegas and newtown and these other massacres are critically important. But it is also critically important that precious, innocent lives are lost every day in big cities like chicago, baltimore, philadelphia, and all these areas where they have the strictest, most repressive gun , gun control laws in the nation. People are more vulnerable. Lawabiding people are vulnerable to crime. Criminals do not Pay Attention to ground laws gun laws. Decent people do. Willis has spent an awful lot of time with legislatures all across the country in the red states and blue states. Can you tell us practically decisionhow the heller has manifested itself, particularly in blue cities and states . Illis thanks, niger i spent a lot of time working specifically in blue states. That may explain some of the gray hair. We have lost a lot more fights than we have won, but generally the blue states try to ignore the heller decision and the followon mcdonald decision. That forces us lawabiding citizens to try to move the process through the courts. The blue states are getting more blue. They are each trying to outdo each other to see who can put the most onerous, antigun, anticivil rights laws into effect, and hoping they can push that through. With some of these states i have to work with democrats, not republicans, because the democrats are all we have to work with to stop a lot of these very ugly bills. The bottom line is as america, as we become more separated between red and blue states, cities, municipalities, we will see more of this until we speak our voice. 120 million gun owners, 120 million voices that have a vote, have to make our desires known to support our Second Amendment. Niger now is not the time for complacency. Willis i got a question the other day. You will get this because i do work with the nra. Someone says why does the and a right keep sending the nra . Nd me crisis emails exactly. That was my response. In my lifetime it always has been a crisis. They have tried to absolutely ban handguns three times as i have been around. They are still on this track right now trying to ban semiautomatic rifles. Tell me a time when there is not a crisis. That is one example, but yes. They will always come because it is not about guns. It is about control. I want to dovetail on that. I was going to Say Something controversial which is that the Second Amendment has nothing to do with guns, which sounds counterintuitive. But it does not. I mean guns of course are a part of it, but be it a gun, a knife, a billy club, be it martial arts, what the Second Amendment is about is that the fundamental, godgiven rights of selfdefense. [applause] protecting yourself, protecting your family, protecting your community. That is what this is about. That is what these liberals that are progressives or whatever they call themselves they really quite frankly are social democrats, maybe even communists [laughter] [applause] niger but that is what they are trying to go after. So how dare they righteously pointed their fingers at us . We are on the right side, ladies and gentlemen. As you go back to your schools, your campuses, your communities, you go back with a stern backside knowing you want to know the right side of our constitution, you are on the right side of history and the right side of god. [applause] niger with this terrible situation in florida the president gave a kick butt speech and set unlike the politicians that will point nra andof blame and say other nonsense, he will actually do something. One of the things that many of us in the movement have been talking about is a number of retired policeman, a number of exveterans that would love the opportunity to protect children in our schools. What do you think about that idea . Willis let me start with describing the president s speech as kick butt, was that a good decision . [laughter] [applause] niger it was a pg version. I am on that. I dont know if we have done this because i am in and out of rooms already. Folks that have associated with Law Enforcement or First Responders or former military, show of hands, right now, those of us in the room. Thank you. [applause] willis i am talking to everybody, including whatever viewing audience we have. But i will be talking about you. That is why i thought we ought to point you out. I am the president of the National Republican assembly. So i do believe we should protect our children. All of our babies. And beginning at the start of this i will go back to a fundamental breakdown of the family. After eight years of obama, we have lost confidence in the government, and we allowed christ to be kicked out of our schools. Simply being allowed to carry a. Irearm is a deterrent the bad guys have a mission. They dont want to fail in whatever their mission is. They will go wherever it is easiest. To protectwould be their facility more than the other guys. Antiterrorism philosophy. The guy will go somewhere else because you cannot stop everything. Going forward, what do we want to do . We want to have this discussion now where schools need to be more secure. I am conservative. Many of you are. I think this decision has to engage the big picture. This week, a week after the parkland shooting, for which all of us are still emotional. We are still heartbroken. This week planned parenthood murdered more babies. All right . Ban firearmses from lawabiding citizens in chicago, in baltimore, in detroit, and the carnage on our streets continue. All of that has to be part of this discussion they want. What in the big picture, do i believe that we can have soldiers, Law Enforcement operators who are trained and experienced help secure our schools . Absolutely, absolutely. [applause] niger thank you. Graham, i want to get you back in here to follow up my first question. What are the consequences of the Supreme Court not taking up the case of the filling that second part of the Second Amendment and reining in the federal courts that are often upholding the state legislatures laws that are really done prohibition gun prohibitionist . Graham that is an important point. We must police the bill of rights. So a state passed a law that violated, the Supreme Court would intervene and say you cannot do that. Since the mcdonald ruling, which was the one that made heller applicable to the states, the Supreme Court has had as many Fourth Amendment cases and two dozen First Amendment cases, but zero Second Amendment cases. Leaving the field open for the states. What we need is the Supreme Court to establish, build out that jurisprudence around the Second Amendment, practical activities cannot go to a gun range, can i take my boy hunting in texas with nar to shoot hogs an ar to shoot hogs . E will have dual we dont have due process. You should have the same rights in california and texas. The First Amendment, same thing. The consequences are bad, but the second series of consequences are lower longterm. If we as a country can decide some rights are unfavorable at a particular point in time and limit them, there is not a restraint on that same thing happening 150 years from now, 10 years from now on other rights. We have seen that in our history already when it comes to race. When it comes to gender. How rights are used. These rights are to protect the First Amendment. They are not there to protect popular speech, but unpopular speech. When things become unpopular, and there is a big group saying we dont want that, that is exactly when your right is there to stop it. That could happen to the Second Amendment, it could happen to others. People and the courts disregarding the significance of that individual right has implications for the longevity of freedom in this country. I dont think it is limited now. You learn that lesson and later it is applied to other things. What itm interested in looks like 100 years from now. My kids and their grandkids, but 150 years ago, someone cared about what this country looks like now. We need to care about what it looks like down the road, and that means protecting these rights. [applause] niger you had a question. For thewas it unusual justice to chastise his peers were not accepting more cases . For not accepting more cases . Graham he had as much in the dissent. I encourage anyone about the heller decision. It is readable. Of theong discussion question of disfavored rights. He has pointed out, if a state had a 10day wait period on abortion, he thinks that case would get served like that. But if it is a 10day wait on a handgun willis which is what they dealt with graham the sylvester case, you cannot get review on it. He has a very articulate narrative about pointing out that we are not treating this right the way we do every other right, and that is a problem for us. Niger we are wrapping up this carrie thisraham question is coming for you. I know my father, may he rest in heaven, said to me [applause] niger thank you. We have some people who remember. Said to make many, many years ago that the bill of rights are an insurance policy for us. And quite frankly of all of the bill of rights, all nine of the bill of rights, rests on the Second Amendment. If the Second Amendment goes away, we have one that will go away, the domino effect. I will talk about the future, but we have not talked about the future of the country. I am going to ask you, the gender partisan here, and say, does the future of the Second Amendment and our country really rest on women . Are they the critical demographic . If we win women, empower women, let them know if is about it is about protection and not aggressive violence, about protection for the family and themselves, from being victims and empower them, can we win this thing . Carrie when we get women together on a cause, what happens when you are put on a task . You get it done. And you get it done with passion, right . Seriously, i think when we can unleash the voice of the female gun owner and the passionate stories, it is a game changer. And the media knows that. They are afraid of that. We just did an interview with 60 minutes, and i brought six women with me for a full day of interviewing. A full day. Not a second of it was aired. These women this was national cbs a week or two ago. They were afraid of it. We were so articulate and responsible and passionate. And normal. I just like normal. Carrie they could not show it because it was the wrong message, not what they wanted to show. I do think it is important. We have to counter the efforts demand,s like moms towns, whatever they are called now, whatever bloomberg is calling yet. Their messaging is women with guns are dangerous. You are going to get hurt with it. You are not strong enough. You cant handle that. I tell you what, that is because they are afraid of us too. They know the power of the womens voice and our activism. So they are shackling us to the bondage of fear. To victimhood. What kind of womens rights is that . That is not a quality. Deciding,equal about we can be equal in the corporate world. We can be president of the united states. We would have choice over our bodies and what happens to it. I want the choice over what happens to my body so i can defend it. So call to action, take someone shooting. Doesnt have to be a woman. Take someone shooting. That is my call to action to you guys. You going to go shooting . Niger how many ladies are going to go shooting . I think they all did. Outstanding. Carrie take a friend. Niger i cant think of a better way to end this wonderful panel. Please, ladies and gentlemen, give this wonderful panel willis, carrie, graham, a round of applause. Thank you all for coming. You are on the right side and you are at the right place, greatest cpac ever. Thank you all, god bless you. Announcer 1 Andy Weingarten heads the American Federation of teachers. She talked about safety concerns after the parkland shooting it in florida. Idea. S a terrible it saddened me because it showed absolutely no understanding the children and parents and educators all want and need schools to be safe sanctuaries for teaching and learning, not armed fortresses, not armed camps. This is what the nra wanted all along. This is new marketing for the gun lobby manufacturers. And where the president took this conversation, instead of actually trying to reduce gun violence in our streets and in our schools, if you think about its anatically insane suggestion. What are you going to do in terms of teachers . Will kindergarten teachers where their guns on their hips . Where will you lock guns . Justou talking about handguns versus an ar15 that can shoot 90 rounds in a minute . Rushingpens if kids are along in a hallway . What is that frightened teacher going to do . I could go through all of these unanswered questions, and the more questions you go through, the more you realize what an insane idea that it is idea it is. Tamara 12 40 p. M. And 6 00 p. M. Eastern here on cspan. Bob cusk