[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 107 (Thursday, June 23, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H5831-H5832]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1100
                      RED FLAG LAWS RIPE FOR ABUSE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Cawthorn) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CAWTHORN. Mr. Speaker, our Founders were clear. The Second 
Amendment was designed as the backbone upon which individual rights and 
liberties could be secured.
  Efforts by the ruling class in our government are aimed at crippling 
this Nation and corroding our Republic.

[[Page H5832]]

  It is true: Red flag laws sound benign on paper. Flagging dangerous 
individuals and keeping them from weaponry seems like a cut-and-dried 
issue, but a simple cursory glance at the actions of our overreaching 
Federal Government clearly shows that these laws are ripe for Federal 
abuse. They will abuse your rights and mine.
  Make no mistake, red flag laws will be used to flag those who vote 
for freedom, strip them of their right to self-defense, and empower 
faceless bureaucrats to dole out or not to dole out the right of self-
defense to a downtrodden and oppressed class of citizens.
  They will be weaponized to demonize and destroy political dissidents 
in this country. If you raise your children to adhere to Proverbs 
instead of POTUS, you may be stripped of your gun rights. If you vote 
against the regime, you may be stripped of your gun rights. If you 
refuse the medical decisions pushed by the regime, you may be stripped 
of your gun rights.
  To the American people, I say this: It is not a right if you have to 
ask permission to exercise it. We are very near to this government 
becoming the exact reason our Founders penned the Second Amendment, not 
to hunt deer but to defend against tyranny or invasion.
  Red flag laws sound harmless on paper. We all want to keep firearms 
out of the hands of dangerous people, but remember who the government 
says that you are. The CDC has labeled you a national security problem 
for protecting your health. The FBI, last September, called your 
mothers and wives domestic terrorists for protecting your children. A 
House committee labeled half the country as coup-sympathetic just a few 
weeks ago.
  The same faceless fact checkers who censor your speech will seize 
your sovereignty and come to your front door, and they won't be coming 
with a clipboard and a smile.
  These liberal lackeys will show up before dawn, invade your home, 
seize your property, and smash any concept of individual liberty you 
may possess. Remember the actions the ruling elite took against those 
at Waco and Ruby Ridge.
  We must wake up. We cannot trust this government, and we must not 
give them more legal avenues to persecute Americans that they took an 
oath to defend.


            Investigate Fires at Food Processing Facilities

  Mr. CAWTHORN. Mr. Speaker, what is next? You want our guns. You took 
our gas. Now, it seems that even the simple act of providing food is 
too difficult for this administration to accomplish.
  Last week, according to The Washington Times, a fire ravaged a 
Festive Foods plant near Waupaca, Wisconsin. Earlier this month, at a 
JBS meatpacking plant near Green Bay, a fire caused nearly $30,000 in 
damage. In April, fires destroyed the headquarters of Azure Standard, a 
distributor of organic food in Oregon; the Taylor Farms processing 
facility in Salinas, California; and an East Conway Beef & Pork butcher 
shop and slaughterhouse in Conway, New Hampshire.
  At least 12 U.S. food processing facilities have burned down in the 
last 6 months. Does no one else believe that this is worth an 
investigation?
  This comes as 37 million chickens have been killed on U.S. poultry 
farms this year due to the avian flu, the worst outbreak in recorded 
U.S. history, and the deaths of at least 2,000 cattle in Kansas during 
a heat wave this month.
  These accidents are coming at a time of shortages across our Nation. 
Essentials such as fuel, semiconductors, and even baby formula have 
ceased being commodities and have become as rare as coherent speech 
from the White House.
  The American people have every right to be skeptical and to demand 
answers about the incidents shutting down food facilities.
  It begs the question: What exactly are they doing in the White House 
about this? Why has a seemingly unexplainable series of food industry 
accidents gone unreported by the media?
  Mr. Speaker, does no one care that children are starving while you 
and your colleagues feast at Le Diplomate?
  We survived the Great Depression because our supply chains were local 
and a large share of American households grew much of their own food. I 
hope we are all practicing hunting and gardening because I am afraid 
that we may need it soon.

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