Thomas Massie: “If facts are the ammunition of debate, I point out that the other side of the aisle entered this room unarmed. There are…”

“If facts are the ammunition of debate, I point out that the other side of the aisle entered this room unarmed. There are so many mischaracterizations or misfires, if you will, about this bill and what this bill does that I don't know where to start. But let me start here with the words of the author of this bill. He says it will ban weapons of war only suitable for soldiers in combat. Is that what it does? Does it ban an M16? It doesn't ban an M16 or an M4. It bans the most commonly sold rifle in the United States today and for the last several years. It doesn't ban weapons of war. It explicitly exempts the M1 Garand. General Patton said the M1 Garand is the finest implement of battle ever devised. Why is it exempted? It is a weapon of war. It exempts the M1 Carbine. Look at the picture of the soldiers, the marines at Iwo Jima. What were they carrying? The M1 Carbine. It exempts the quintessential Cold War weapon, the pride of the Chinese and the Communists, the SKS. It is exempted in this bill. These are literal weapons of war that are not in this bill. Now, they will come back and ban those, but they don't want to ban them right now because they don't look scary enough. They have a wooden forestock and a wooden butt. They not made of plastic. They don't look like the scary stuff on the news, so they have no interest in banning that. Literal, actual weapons of war are not banned, but the most common firearm sold today is banned.…”