REP. THOMAS MASSIE: Why does the FDA and the Dept of Education need weapons of war, like AR-15s?

Democrats want to ban citizens from owning AR15s, but they insist the Department of Education can’t complete its mission without AR15s. I say the Second Amendment guarantees the right of the people to own AR15s, and the Dept of Education should be banned!  pic.twitter.com/K7kQN9nt9W

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) August 13, 2024

6:06, MASSIE.  When you enter these agencies, you have to go through a metal detector.  These agencies have a civilian mission; they do not have a military mission.  And I think Dan Bishop said it well, "How can you say that these are weapons of war and then argue that they need to go to agencies that are not engaged in war and should never be engaged in war?"

7:33, GAETZ.  The entire reason we have the Bill of Rights is because there are certain rights that have to be reserved to the people, not government.  And Mr. Massey's amendment shows how this legislation has turned the Constitution, the Bill of Rights on its head.  It takes powers reserved to the people and it deprives the people of those powers and rights and then it reserves explicitly the very same rights for government, not for the military but for like the Deputy Commissar of Pencil Erasers at the Department of Education.  They want you weak and the government strong.  They want you disarmed and the government armed to the teeth.  I'm reminded of a quote from Austin Powers, where Austin Powers introduces one of his colleagues as a representative from the militant wing of the Salvation Army.  I didn't know we had a militant wing of the Department of Education or the USDA.  But I am certainly aware that our fellow Americans are concerned about a very troubling trend where these bureaucracies are getting their own militias and arsenals.  It would probably surprise most Americans that just this year the IRS has purchased $700,000 worth of ammunition.  So when you peel back all the layers of the onion, the party of big government isn't actually against guns and ammo; they're just against you having them because they want a citizenry that is repressed and dominated and ultimately subjected.  And by the way, our founders were so brilliant they knew this would happen and they knew that the Second Amendment wasn't going to be about hunting or self-defense, but about curating an appropriate balance that is necessary for a free society where we don't have to live in fear, that one day some Deputy Administrator from the Department of Education is going to knock our door down and that as a result of us not having the appropriate protractor that we are somehow going to be in a disadvantageous position regarding our safety, and far more important, regarding our Liberty.  I yield back to the gentleman from Ohio.