Second Amendment Rights

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I have to head down to the House Judiciary Committee to defend the Second Amendment from the attacks being levied by my Democratic colleagues as we speak. We are in there debating.

I would add just one thing to what the gentleman just eloquently put out, the understanding for the American people that when this Nation was founded, we were dealing with debate about what the structure of government should look like. Those who were suspicious of consolidating power, the anti-Federalists, were raising questions.

James Madison, a Virginian, was making points through the Federalist Papers. He said in response to some of the critiques: ``All the other checks and balances will always prevent tyranny, but should tyranny ever triumph, the U.S. Constitution provides a mechanism to restore constitutional order,'' he says. ``Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation,'' Madison wrote, ``the existence of subordinate governments, the State government to which the people are attached,'' their State and local governments, ``and by which the militia officers are appointed,'' because that well-regulated militia meant a well- ordered militia, not regulated the way we talk about it, a well-ordered militia. ``And it forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of.''

The final point is, the Second Amendment does not create a right of revolution against tyranny. That inherent right is universal. The Second Amendment provides the tools and the power for the people to stand and thwart tyranny.

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