Ron Paul Denounces NRA’s Plan For Officers In Every School

Former Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul ripped the National Rifle Association for their plan to put armed officers in every school.

Paul warned that, instead of creating a safe environment for students to learn, it could instead create a TSA-like scenario that includes checkpoints and surveillance cameras but has a limited effect.

Fox News reports that Paul released a statement, saying:

“School shootings, no matter how horrific, do not justify creating an Orwellian surveillance state in America.”

The representative from Texas is one of the most libertarian-leaning legislators on the Hill and is the first Republican in Congress to oppose the NRA’s proposal so strongly.

NRA head Wayne LaPierre proposed federal funding to overhaul the security of America’s schools including posting a guard in every school. The plan came in response to the deadly shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, which killed 20 first graders and six educators. LaPierre stated during the press conference, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

While Ron Paul agreed that more guns means less crime, he still disagrees with the NRA’s plan. CBS News notes that Paul went on to say:

“While I certainly agree that more guns equals less crime and that private gun ownership prevents many shootings, I don’t agree that conservatives and libertarians should view government legislation, especially at the federal level, as the solution to violence.”

Paul believes that the only way “real change can happen” is when civil society in America changes. He believes that it will take “a society based on family, religion, civic and social institutions, and peaceful cooperation through markets” to keep mass shootings from happening in our schools.

But Ron Paul’s disagreement with the NRA doesn’t mean he’s for gun control either. He also took the time to criticize liberals for their immediate reaction of gun control policy. He wrote, “Predictably, the political left responded to the tragedy with emotional calls for increased gun control. This is understandable, but misguided.”

Paul continued on, explaining that government doesn’t have the ability to create a perfect world, meaning that no matter how much we want to live in a world where the government’s plan can stop killers from shooting up schools and movie theaters, “Only a totalitarian society would even claim absolute safety as a worthy ideal, because it would require total state control over its citizens’ lives.”

Do you agree with Ron Paul’s decision to disagree with the NRA’s plan to put armed guards in schools?