HON. RON PAUL OF TEXAS
BEFORE THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 18, 2003
Reject UN Gun Control!
2003 Ron Paul 101:1
Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the “Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act.” This legislation prohibits US taxpayer dollars from being
used to support or promote any United Nations actions that could
infringe on the Second Amendment. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act
also expresses the sense of Congress that proposals to tax, or
otherwise limit, the right to keep and bear arms are “reprehensible and
deserving of condemnation.”
2003 Ron Paul 101:2
Over the past decade, the UN has waged a campaign to undermine gun rights protected by the
Second
Amendment of the US Constitution. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has
called on
members of the Security Council to “tackle” the proliferation and “easy
availability” of small arms and light weapons. Just this June, the UN
tried to
“tackle” gun rights by sponsoring a “Week of Action Against Small
Arms.”
Of course, by small arms, the UN really means all privately owned
firearms.
2003 Ron Paul 101:3
Secretary Annan is not
the only globalist calling for international controls on firearms. For
example,
some world leaders, including French President Jacques Chirac, have
called for a
global tax on firearms. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council’s “Report of
the
Group of Governmental Experts on Small Arms” calls for a comprehensive
program
of worldwide gun control and praises the restrictive gun polices of Red
China
and France!
2003 Ron Paul 101:4
Contrary to the UN propaganda, the right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental
right
and, according to the drafters of the Constitution, the
guardian of
every other right
. Scholar John Lott has shown that respecting the
right to
keep and bear arms is one of the best ways governments can reduce
crime.
Conversely, cities where the government imposes gun control have higher
crime
rates. Far from making people safer, gun control endangers innocent
people by
increasing the odds that they will be victimized!
2003 Ron Paul 101:5
Gun control also increases the odds that people will lose their lives and
liberties
to power-hungry government officials. Tyrannical governments throughout
the
world kill approximately 2,000,000 people annually. Many of these
victims of
tyranny were first disarmed by their governments. If the UN is
successful in
implementing a global regime of gun control, more innocent lives will
be lost to
public (and private) criminals.
2003 Ron Paul 101:6
I would remind my colleagues that policies prohibiting the private
ownership of
firearms were strongly supported by tyrants such as Adolph Hitler,
Joseph
Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung.
2003 Ron Paul 101:7
Mr. Speaker, global gun control is a recipe for global tyranny and a threat
to the
safety of all law-abiding persons. I therefore hope all my colleagues
will help
protect the fundamental human right to keep and bear arms by
cosponsoring the
Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act.