Chip Roy: “I thank the gentleman from Ohio for yielding. Why do we have guns? Why do we have the Second Amendment? Is it to hunt?…”

“I thank the gentleman from Ohio for yielding. Why do we have guns? Why do we have the Second Amendment? Is it to hunt? Sure. Self defense? That is even more important. The fact is, if you read the founders--Federalist No. 46, James Madison contrasts us with the tyrannical governments of Europe who are, ``afraid to trust the people with arms.'' Joseph Story in his Commentaries on the Constitution in 1833: ``The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered as the palladium of the liberties of a republic. Since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these were successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them.'' We have a Second Amendment because we understand in this country that there are some things, inalienable rights, that you cannot justly take away from a free and equal human being. Tyrants disarm the people they intend to oppress. Those are the facts. Jewish people in Germany were prohibited from owning firearms; 13 million Jews were exterminated by the Nazis. The Soviets instituted gun control and millions were killed; 20 million dissidents were rounded up and exterminated. Mao disarmed the Chinese people; 20 million dissidents were exterminated. In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge was able to take advantage of the fact that limited gun ownership to just hunters and killed 1.5 million to 3 million Cambodians.…”