Ron Paul denounces NRA plan

Outgoing Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) distanced himself Monday from a National Rifle Association proposal to place armed guards at every school, saying government security is just another kind of violence.

(PHOTOS: Ron Paul through the years)

He said the federal government should not try to pursue unobtainable safety with state-sanctioned security and claimed Democratic and Republican lawmakers have zero moral authority to legislate against violence.

This is the world of government provided security, a world far too many Americans now seem to accept or even endorse, Paul said in a statement on his website. School shootings, no matter how horrific, do not justify creating an Orwellian surveillance state in America.

He continued: Only a totalitarian society would even claim absolute safety as a worthy ideal, because it would require total state control over its citizens lives. We shouldnt settle for substituting one type of violence for another.

In his criticism of progressives calling for more gun restrictions, Paul said new laws wont dissuade or prevent a madman with a gun from killing innocents.

Predictably, the political left responded to the tragedy with emotional calls for increased gun control, he said. This is understandable, but misguided. The impulse to have government do something to protect us in the wake of national tragedies is reflexive and often well intentioned. But this impulse ignores the self evident truth that criminals dont obey laws.

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Ron Paul denounces NRA plan