Guest Post by Ron Paul
Last week’s tragic shootings in Canada and Washington state are certain to lead to new calls for gun control. The media-generated fear over “lone wolf terrorists” will enable the gun control lobby to smear Second Amendment supporters as “pro-terrorist.” Marketing gun control as an anti-terrorist measure will also enable gun control supporters to ally with those who support any infringement on liberty done in the name of “homeland security.”
As with most infringements on liberty, gun control will not only make us less free, it will make us less safe. Respecting the right of the people to keep and bear arms is the original and best homeland security policy. Restricting the right of people to arm themselves leaves them with no effective defense against violent criminals or a tyrannical government.
Every year, thousands of Americans use firearms to stop violent criminals. One notable example occurred in September, when Oklahoman Mark Vaughan used a rifle to stop a knife-wielding co-worker who had already killed one person and wounded another. Unfortunately, most of the media coverage focused on speculation that the assailant was motivated by “radical Islam” rather than on Vaughan’s use of a firearm to protect innocent lives.
It is no coincidence that states that pass “concealed carry” laws experience a drop in crime. Since passing concealed carry in Texas in 1995, murder in the state has declined by 52 percent. In comparison, the national murder rate declined by only 33 percent.
Perhaps the best illustration of the dangers of gun control is federal regulations forbidding pilots from having guns in their cockpits. Ironically, this rule went into effect shortly before September 11, 2001. If pilots had the ability to carry guns on 9/11, the hijackers may well have been stopped from attacking the World Trade Center and Pentagon or persuaded to not even try.
Shortly after 9/11, I introduced legislation allowing pilots to carry firearms in the cockpits. Congress eventually passed a bill allowing pilots to carry firearms if they obtain federal certification and obey federal regulations. Aside from the philosophical objection that no one should have to ask government permission before exercising a right, the rules and expensive approval process discourage many pilots from participating in the armed pilots program.
It should not be surprising that the anti-gun Obama Administration wants to eliminate the armed pilots program. I actually agree that the program should be eliminated, so long as pilots who can legally carry a firearm in their states of residence can carry a firearm on the planes they fly. Allowing pilots to carry guns is certainly a more effective way of protecting our security than forcing all airline passengers to endure the TSA.
Both gun control and foreign interventionism disregard the wisdom of the country’s founders.
An interventionist foreign policy, like gun control, threatens our safety. A hyper-interventionist foreign policy invites blowback from those who resent our government meddling in their countries while gun control leaves people defenseless against violent criminals. Returning to a foreign policy of peace and free trade and repealing all federal infringements on the Second Amendment will help guarantee both liberty and security.
Lets here it for Ron Paul. Whooo Raaaaa!
He’s the best John. First class guy.
He was our ticket to Freedom. Still miserable from the way they treated him.
So what do you think of his boy?
Rand isn’t like his dad…He’s getting awfully cozy with the Republicans.
Rand appears to be lacking something his father has.
Not sure what it is.
Don’t get me wrong, would love to see him get in the White House, just appears the lesser of the two in my humble opinion.
Can someone refresh my memory as to Ron Paul’s accomplishments while he was on the hill. Other than talking about auditing the fed.
He denied peak oil once, during one of his Presidential runs. That took some balls back when it was being peddled to masses. He handled Sasha Cohen with aplomb, most people would have shot the guy. And his common sense approach to topics presented to him has been pretty middle of the road reasonable. hard to find in a politician, whom by definition are natural born liars.
As far as accomplishments, as a politician he doesn’t have many of those. Which, for a politician, might itself be an accomplishment.
@JOHN
Seriously, did he stop NAFTA or GATT? Did he stop the onslaught of NSA police state legislation? What exactly did this guy do to stop the dismantling of the constitution or the fed printing tiolet paper currency into infinity? He talked a big talk about auditing the fed and nothing happened to stop that dog and pony show during the 25 years he blathered on and on. Just give me one bill he penned that passed into law that made a difference.
Waiting…..anyone…anyone…Buehler…Beuhler.
He didn’t stop anything. Not sure “accomplish” would be the word for reversing NAFTA anyway. The Fed does what the Fed does, and was doing it before Ronny showed up during the “paper as toilet paper” days. And certainly most folks have been happy with the “results” of the Fed, primarily not requiring them to change their standard of living much…yet.
JOHN please kill yourself immediately.
@ BEA
The measure of a politician isn’t how many bills he gets passed. Personally, we are already being buried alive under a tidal wave of rules, regulations and other extra-Constitutional garbage – all of which were penned by some politician at some point. It’s so bad, you already know each citizen of the US commits at least 3 felonies a day without even knowing it…
I don’t have a problem with Dr. Paul spending his time fighting against such things rather than authoring more bullshit legislation that will just be added to the pile… goes to the same line of bilge we’re being fed about how “something has to be done about the gridlock in Washington!”, when the system of checks and balances built into our system is designed to encourage gridlock, so that no one group or individual can steamroll the rest and amass power.
Rand seems to be proving that he is not his father’s son… of course he might be and it could just be him cozying up to the Repubs – just playing them – so he can get a shot at the White House and then he can go all libertarian on them…
Could he be that devious? The other side was…
Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Be afraid when only the government has weapons. At least he was a veteran. And has had a job.
Said to have crazy foreign policy ideas. Like stopping war’s and closing military bases overseas.
I kind of liked Fox news until i saw their treatment of Ron Paul when he ran for the republican nomination.
He makes me wish more people in Washington were like him.
Don’t get me wrong, I love and support his message but after decades of all talk and no action thoughts of controlled opposition enter my mind.
@ Bea,
I’m a conservative with (small “L”) libertarian leanings… I don’t agree with everything Dr. Paul says, but he makes loads more sense than anyone else.. if anyone should have been President, it should have been him.
The problem is that at this point in the game, anyone who wants to be President is automatically suspect. Only sociopaths and psychopaths are drawn to power, and – paradoxically – the guy most fit to be President is the one who does not want the job the most.
I don’t have any answers. The only thing I do is watch after me and mine, sock away preps and hope we survive whatever doom is most certainly on the way…
BILLY
I’m flapping my gums in the wind. I gave up on the white knight saving the day scenario a long time ago. The 2016 election will prove to be as big a joke as past 50 years of election diappoinments one after another. And spare me the Ronny Reagan years blather as we were sold down the river then too.
Bea…Ron Paul was known as Doctor No in Congress because he voted no on bills he thought were unconstitutional…..that’s a good record in my book.
Aunt Bea
What do you want him to do, start shooting up the place?
“Don’t get me wrong, I love and support his message but after decades of all talk and no action thoughts of controlled opposition enter my mind. ”
No action? He was a representative fighting against the whores of Washington. He had one vote. He put his message out there but it did not resonate with the American sheeple. Now instead of a balanced, clear-thinking president we have the hateful globalist puppet Barry Hussein Obola. America gets what it deserves.
“I’m flapping my gums in the wind.” You said it.
“I’m flapping my gums in the wind.”
Your negative prattle is getting old, Bea Lever. Give it a rest. Ron Paul was a single elected congressional representative who told the truth, fought the compromised DC political mob and voted for decades in the best interest of the nation with little or no support from other elected officials. His voting record alone speaks for itself. It is a legacy of integrity and noble service to his country for all to see.
Ok fellas, lets put Ron Paul aside for a moment and insert the name Rush Limbaugh instead. Rush has been there for 30 years, day after day, week after week, year after year saying just the right things conservatives wanted to hear and NOTHING CHANGED. The whitehouse and the military marched into war after war, the constitution and bill of rights used for toilet paper and the police state was installed while rush kept good hard working Americans lulled into thinking the white knight will save us. THAT IS CONTROLED OPPOSITION my friends. The hidden hand has babysitters and you love your babysitters.
Speak for yourself.
@JOHN
Thanks for the comment, at least you have the stones to say something.
Aunt Bea
“The hidden hand has babysitters and you love your babysitters.”
Who is this “you” that you speak of? It seems that you presume much but think little. Nothing has changed, but not because of Limbaugh or any of the other talking heads but because of the apathy of the American public. Lack of vigilance and complacency have replaced informed resistance to the constant encroachment of the state.
Your venom towards your betters (Ron Paul) is palpable, and your flippant attitude to other posters here is probably indicative of the action you have taken to restore the republic. Perhaps instead of whining you might enlighten us as to the concrete and historic changes you have enacted. That’s what I thought…Pebbles, not stones.