Congressman Jack Metcalf of Washington State is the designated recipient of the CCRKBA Gun Rights Defender of the Month Award for November.

In nominating U. S. Rep. Metcalf for the Award, John Michael Snyder, CCRKBA Public Relations Director, said, “Jack truly is a unique individual. He combines both rugged outdoors and true intellectual backgrounds with success as a grass roots politician who throughout his public life has been a stalwart and forthright defender of the traditional, individual Second Amendment civil right of law-abiding American citizens to keep and bear arms. He certainly is most deserving of this Award.”

During the 105th Congress, Rep. Metcalf has supported a number of pro-gun initiatives, including H. R. 2721, the proposed Second Amendment Protection Act.

He states he supports the measure because it would repeal outright, with no questions asked, both “the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act and the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act and restores and revives any provisions they amended as if the repealed Acts had not been enacted. Further, the legislation will amend Internal Revenue Code provisions relating to machine guns, destructive devices, and certain other firearms and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to revise the definition of ‘destructive device’ and make other changes.”

Congressman Metcalf notes “Thomas Jefferson once argued that, ‘laws that forbid the carrying of arms…disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes…Such things make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.’ Similarly, Thomas Paine exclaimed, ‘…arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property…Horrid mischief would ensue were (the law-abiding) deprived of the use of them.’ And, John Adams reasoned, ‘arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion … in private self-defense.’

“These eloquent words from three of our Founding Fathers, conclusively state that one of the purposes of the Second Amendment is to ensure that the government does not take away an individual’s ability to defend himself or his property. The purpose is as relevant today as it was when the United States Constitution was drafted.

“The Brady Law violates these important principles enumerated by the Founding Fathers, state’s rights and local law enforcement prerogatives. I will continue to work hard in Congress to defend the rights guaranteed to every law-abiding American by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.”

Congressman Jack Metcalf, who now lives in Langley, Washington, was born in 1927 in Marysville, Washington.

Jack and his wife, Norma Grant, have four daughters and nine grandchildren. They own The Log Castle Bed and Breakfast in Langley, where Jack is, as he says, an “avid outdoor sportsman.”

Jack graduated from Pacific Lutheran University with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education in 1951. He did graduate work in Economics and History and received his Master of Arts in 1966 from the University of Washington.

Rep. Metcalf served in the United States Army in 1946 and 1947. He served in the Washington State House from 1960 until 1964. He served in the Washington State Senate from 1966 until 1974 and again from 1980 until 1992, when he first was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives.

While Jack was in the Washington State Senate, he was Chairman of the Senate Environmental and Natural Resources Committee, from 1988 until 1992. In 1987, he was Washington State Senate Assistant Republican Whip.

Jack was a high school teacher in the Everett, Washington School District for 30 years. He taught Algebra from 1951 through 1964 and History from 1965 through 1981.

In 1947 and 1948, Jack worked in Alaska as a United States Fish and Wildlife Service Patrol Boat Skipper with the U. S. Marshal Authority.

Jack is a member of United We Stand America, the Concord Coalition, the South Whidbey, Washington Kiwanis Club, the Wildcat Steelhead Club, the Skagit County Chapter of the Back Country Sportsmen, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the National Association of State Legislators, the Deer Lagoon Grange, the Farm Bureau, the South Whidbey, Washington Planning Council, and the Whidbey Island Transportation Association.