[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4522]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, the Bill of Rights confers liberties on 
individuals to protect us from government power. Nowhere is this more 
apparent than in the second amendment. It states, ``A well-regulated 
militia, being necessary to a free state, the right of the people to 
keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.''
  The second amendment confers two rights; it allows individuals to 
bear arms, and it allows for a state militia, or the National Guard.
  There are several reasons for the second amendment. But notice the 
phrase, ``the right to bear arms.'' This is a military term. The 
colonists, who all owned firearms, were somewhat fearful of a strong 
Federal Government that would be oppressive and totalitarian. So it 
seems they wanted the right to protect themselves, individually and 
also collectively, through militias from not only outlaws but an outlaw 
Federal Government.
  As the Supreme Court decides if the government can ban gun ownership, 
it would do well to adopt a lower court opinion which said, ``The right 
to bear arms was premised on the private use of arms for activities 
such as hunting and self-defense; the latter being understood as a 
resistance to either private lawlessness or the depredation of a 
tyrannical government.''
  And that's just the way it is.

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