Bob Barr: “Mr. Chairman, Centers for Disease Control, Centers for Disease Control. The words are not real long, only a couple of…”

“Mr. Chairman, Centers for Disease Control, Centers for Disease Control. The words are not real long, only a couple of syllables. Look up the word ``disease'' in the dictionary, at least any legitimate dictionary. I have done it. There is no reference in any dictionary that I can find that says that accidents or handgun injuries or murders are a disease. There is a reason why they are not found within a definition of disease. They are not diseases. Let us talk about honesty and truth in government. The Centers for Disease Control, all of us ought to agree, and but for the political agenda on the other side here most Members do agree, that the Centers for Disease Control have not eradicated disease. In other words, they have work left to do, very important work they could be doing. Yet they are devoting scarce resources for a political agenda that is, pure and simple, a political agenda. If my colleagues from New York and other States want to do away with handguns, that is fine, from their standpoint. Or if people on my side of the aisle do not like handguns and want to outlaw them, do it, but do it honestly. Propose legislation to outlaw them. Propose an amendment to the Constitution doing away with the second amendment. But do not take an institution that has done so much good work and cause it to lose credibility further, as it has already done, by engaging in a political agenda.”