User Panel
Posted: 4/18/2007 7:39:20 PM EDT
www.politico.com/news/stories/0407/3556.html
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) has a simple solution to future shooting massacres such as the one that ripped apart Virginia Tech university Monday: more guns. "People are a little more cautious if somebody might have a gun there," the GOP presidential candidate told Politico reporters Tuesday. "A concealed gun carried by a responsible person -- that might have ended the problem that they had at Virginia Tech with one person being killed or two people being killed." Paul, 71, is the kind of lawmaker, and presidential candidate, gun control advocates love to hate at moments like this. And, based on public opinion polls and reader feedback at Politico.com, he's far from alone. Echoing the views of many Americans, he sees calls for restriction on guns as an affront to freedom. The libertarian-minded Texan is one of the most outspoken defenders of gun rights in Congress. Since the obstetrician was first elected to Congress in 1976, he has never voted for a bill restricting gun ownership. And he said the tragedy in Blacksburg, Va., could have been prevented if the school allowed students and professors to carry concealed weapons on campus. Paul, who ran for the Libertarian presidential nomination in 1988, is well known on Capitol Hill for his outspoken, maverick positions. He opposed authorizing federal funding to victims of Hurricane Katrina. He wants to abolish the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Department of Education. He has called for a return to the gold standard. He argues that tighter gun control laws would have no impact on gun crime. "It's the lack of access to law-abiding citizens to have guns in many places that increases our crime rate," he said. "We just can't prevent every tragedy of a maniac. So to pretend this happened because of lack of laws would be the wrong thing to assume." Despite his pro-gun rhetoric, Paul also often finds himself voting with Democrats, particularly in the area of civil liberties. He was one of only three Republican lawmakers to vote against the USA Patriot Act in 2001. He expressed concern that the Virginia Tech shootings would be exploited to crack down on civil liberties. "I know there will be a call for, 'Boy, we've got to take hold of every single gun and register the gun.' It's sort of like after 9/11, we had to worry about terrorists, but what we've done is register every American," he said. "With national ID cards, inspection and loss of our liberties, warrantless searches, we've attacked law-abiding citizens. So, no, I don't think we need more gun control for law-abiding citizens." Paul suggested that the Sept. 11 attacks could have been avoided if the pilots on the hijacked airliners had been armed. "If terrorists knew that every pilot had a gun in the cockpit, they wouldn't have done it," he said. "They would have all been shot and wouldn't have accomplished their mission." |
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(Media): Dammit, somebody had to use common sense - Ignore him!
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It would be really nice if someone like him was elected president, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
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In before the Ron Paul has no chance crowd.
+1 Ron Paul is the best we have. If you don't agree with Ron Paul you are left of our founding fathers. |
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Honestly listen to yourself, do you think he seriously has a chance of getting elected? He's not even going to make it out of the primary, and a few hundred thousand arfcom voters aren't going to make one bit of difference. |
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My God, someone with common sense. |
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He approaches it from a very simple view. When you subsidize something you get more of it. He wants to end all benefits for illegals; healthcare, education, social security (they do get it), et. al. He also wants to secure the border, though i'm not sure if he promotes fencing the entire border. Most importantly, he wants to end birthright citizenship for illegals. No more mothers jumping over the boarder and crapping their welfare baby out in our country.
why don't you Negative Nancys atleast wait until after the first debate, the one where he was personally invited by Mrs. Reagan. |
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So where's the "Ron Paul for 2008" buttons? He's got my vote. |
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If you had the integrity that Ron Paul had you wouldn't be saying that. Voting for the lesser of 2 evils is not the answer. Vote Ron Paul, or vote for a libtard anti gun from NY named hillary or vote for an anti gun libtard from NY name Guiliani eta: |
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God I'd love to vote for him if he got rid of his wacky ideas of getting rid of the Fed and bringing back the gold standard...
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Milton Friedman favored abolishing the fed. Ludwig von Mises, perhaps the greatest free market economist ever, was in favor of returning to the gold standard, as did Alan Greenspan before he started working for the fed. Instead of calling it wacky, read some books on it. If you need some suggestions send me a pm. |
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Border Security and Immigration Reform The talk must stop. We must secure our borders now. A nation without secure borders is no nation at all. It makes no sense to fight terrorists abroad when our own front door is left unlocked. This is my six point plan: 1. Physically secure our borders and coastlines. We must do whatever it takes to control entry into our country before we undertake complicated immigration reform proposals. 2. Enforce visa rules. Immigration officials must track visa holders and deport anyone who overstays their visa or otherwise violates U.S. law. This is especially important when we recall that a number of 9/11 terrorists had expired visas. 3. No amnesty. Estimates suggest that 10 to 20 million people are in our country illegally. That’s a lot of people to reward for breaking our laws. 4. No welfare for illegal aliens. Americans have welcomed immigrants who seek opportunity, work hard, and play by the rules. But taxpayers should not pay for illegal immigrants who use hospitals, clinics, schools, roads, and social services. 5. End birthright citizenship. As long as illegal immigrants know their children born here will be citizens, the incentive to enter the U.S. illegally will remain strong. 6. Pass true immigration reform. The current system is incoherent and unfair. But current reform proposals would allow up to 60 million more immigrants into our country, according to the Heritage Foundation. This is insanity. Legal immigrants from all countries should face the same rules and waiting periods. |
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Contributed; urging others to do the same...
The only thing i disagree with him on is his view of the war in Iraq, and i trust him not to do something stupid if (Lord willing) he gets into office. That is all... |
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Ron Paul in 2008. |
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I know if this gentleman runs for President in 08', thats who is getting my vote.
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Ron Paul has my vote! We can only hope (and contribute) that he makes it into Office and sets this Country on the right path.
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NO IT WOULD NOT... While I agree with RP on this - VT was wrong to ban CCW on campus - he's a damn fruitloop on most of his other positions... We do NOT need a trade-protectionist, isolationist gold bug as POTUS... |
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Yeah right... Skipping over the part where he sells our national defense down the river to do #1 by withdrawing from overseas (the only way #1 can be attempted - and it would still fail).... You want to see demoralization, corruption, and the total destruction of our active-duty military? Put 'em on border patrol duty... |
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I don't know, there could be ways of making the troops happy on the border.
Make a fire line on the border. Put signs up, cross this line and you will be shot. We could have the largest live fire target range on the mexican border. Day one would be a shock to the mexicans, day 2 would be a nice little war they can not win against us. |
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+1 now that is a winning ticket |
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I grew up in Ron Paul's district. While he has some good ideas (and some bad ones) he would be a nightmare as president - he is not a politician. The S. Texas district he represents is constantly being spanked in legislation - mostly as punishment for having him on the Hill.
That said, every time he votes "No" I smile. |
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Why would you need to pull the military out from overseas and put them on the border? A wall with towers every couple thousand yards with motion-triggered floodlights and a handful of Border Patrol agents or National Guard, with aerial surveillance and mobile rapid response teams could handle things without withdrawing a single soldier from Iraq, Afghanistan, or anywhere else overseas. If we give our border security personnel the things they need and just let them do their job- SURPRISE!- they could actually accomplish something! Let local police and feds deport all the illegals already in the country, get rid of the incentives for criminal scum to invade our country (welfare, social security, government housing, free healthcare, jobs, etc.) and the problem is largely solved. |
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That's exactly why we need him. We don't need another "politician". We need someone who cares about this country and the people in it, not just themselves and the other "politicians" |
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Sold. You're the next president. Where do I sign? |
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Quit calling him a trade-protectionist. That is an outright lie, and i've called you on it before but yet you keep repeating it. |
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