[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 16]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 22431-22432]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       NO TAX $'S FOR UN GUN LAWS

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 17, 2003

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the Right to Keep and Bear 
Arms Act. This legislation prohibits U.S. taxpayer dollars from being 
used to support or promote any United Nations actions that could in any 
way 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.''
  Over the past decade, the UN has waged a campaign to undermine the 
right to keep and bear arms, which is 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.
  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 policies of 
Red China and France!
  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, areas where the government 
imposes gun control have higher crime rates. Thus, far from making 
people safer, gun control endangers innocent people by increasing the 
odds that they will be victimized!
  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, then more innocent lives will be lost to public (and 
private) criminals.
  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-Tong.
  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.

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