[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 127-128]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    OBAMA'S EXECUTIVE ACTION ON GUNS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Westmoreland) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, I want to start my time by quoting 
directly the Second Amendment of our Constitution: ``A well regulated 
militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of 
the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.''
  Aren't those beautiful and resounding words? As a man who likes to 
keep it simple, I appreciate the Founding Fathers not only for their 
foresight to protect the right to bear arms, but also how plain and 
simple they made it.
  The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed 
upon. Unfortunately, I think our Founding Fathers spoke too plainly for 
certain people and certain Presidents to understand. That President may 
always remind us that he taught constitutional law. Sadly, I have yet 
to encounter someone in that position who disregards the Constitution 
so regularly.
  Not only does that President trample on the Second Amendment, but he 
would also trample on Article I, which, as you know, is the Congress 
and going through them to make laws. That President should have known 
that regulations regarding buying guns must come from legislation, not 
by an oral decree.
  That President tried to legislate in the Senate several times, but 
his colleagues refused to do it, even though there was a majority. Now 
that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are not in the 
majority in Congress, I am assuming that this administration is 
deciding to create their own regulations--the Constitution be damned--
because, sadly, there are no checks and balances anymore.
  We know even if Congress passes a bill to repeal any type of order 
that any President makes, it would still have to go to that individual 
for the bill to be signed. So what are the chances of putting together 
a bill that some Congress may have seen as an inappropriate action and 
then send it to the person that created that inappropriate action and 
expect him to sign it?
  I think, Mr. Speaker, one of the things that has so disappointed the 
American people is the inability to have their Representatives voice 
their complaints and do their legislative responsibility with an out-
of-control government. So each week, as the administration or a group 
is intent on disregarding the Constitution, people become numb. The 
American people become numb to these illegal actions.
  I think it is time that we brought attention to some of these illegal 
actions that some Presidents in the past and some Presidents in the 
future may create. I think it is time that we bring these actions to 
the attention of the American people and let them know what our 
Founding Fathers had the intention to do originally, what they intended 
the Constitution to mean, and how it was interpreted by those very 
first legislators: President Washington, the Supreme Court, and others.
  They took this document as a simple document. It was very plainly 
written and read. But, unfortunately, we have had Supreme Courts, 
Presidents, and legislative bodies that have tried to take these 
simple, basic words and turn them into something that they could use 
for their benefit, to try to change the way that this world works and 
how the laws they make are applied to our citizens.
  So, Mr. Speaker, we are going to try to do as much as we can in the 
near future to try to bring this to the attention of the American 
people and the world, because I think our Constitution has been a great 
cornerstone for this world and for any country that wants to have a 
republic, a democracy, and a people-driven form of government and to 
really feel that coat of liberty

[[Page 128]]

wrapped around them. I think our Constitution is that.
  So I think it is time for us not only to make the citizens aware, but 
to make this whole world aware of what has been going on and what we 
are going to do to stop it.

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