Gohmert Warns Of ‘Reverting’ To Era Of Congressional Duels — While Pushing Bill

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Gohmert Warns Of ‘Reverting’ To Era Of Congressional Duels — While Pushing Bill To Arm Congressmen


The tragic shooting in Tucson last weekend has sparked a host of proposed legislative responses, but none is as hair brained as Rep. Louie Gohmert’s (R-TX) idea to allow members of Congress to pack heat inside the Capitol Building, and even when on the House floor. Appearing on WorldNetDaily’s Radio America today, Gohmert explained the need for his bill by falsely claiming that Washington, DC has a “gun ban” (the Roberts Supreme Court did away with DC’s handgun ban in 2008). But later on in the interview, apparently oblivious to the irony, Gohmert noted that there was a era when lawmakers solved problems with armed duels and warned, “we’ve come a long way since those days and we just don’t need to be reverting backwards”:

GOHMERT: Now, on the other end, more freedoms may be of assistance. Like, members of Congress, a number of people have said they walk home at night, they have no security that follows them home. And up here in Washington, DC, because there’s a gun ban, besides law enforcement, the only people who have guns here are the criminals! So we’re looking at a bill that would allow members of Congress to carry a weapon. <...>

But I’ll take you back a couple of hundred years when part of public life and part of public office was if you said something that offended somebody, there was going to be a duel and somebody was going to be killed! That’s what happened with Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. So, we’ve come a long way since those days and we just don’t need to be reverting backwards.

Listen here: http://thinkprogress.org/2011/01/13/gohmert-deuling/

How does Gohmert expect that members of Congress carrying guns will help avoid dueling? As CBS News notes, “In the 1830s through 1850s, members of Congress regularly wore weapons on the floor of the House and Senate — and sometimes used them to threaten colleagues.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20028337-503544.html

[flakey_foont]

1. Gohmert Pyle,

Sur-praz! Sur-praz! Sur-praz!

one deluded critter, that one

[haele]

2. Personally, I prefer Sabers or Rapiers.

One needs some serious physical conditioning and self-control to successfully duel with one. It also takes a bit more thought and activity than just pulling out a handgun and pointing. If they want to keep the injury level down, they can just require a safety "tip" when walking into a Federal Building.
A enraged, soft-as-a-lobbyist congresscritter in a high-end suit fumbling through his suit jacket to get to a pistol looks far more stupid and not very intimidating, as opposed to the same idiot pulling out a rapier. There's something elegant with a sword, even if you can't use it worth a spit.
My father's Advisor and favorite senior history professor at UW during the 1970's was a Welshman who went to the University of Heidleburg in 1905/1910 therabouts.
Had a nifty looking small crescent-moon shaped duelling scar just under his cheek from the required (in his words) duels that all upperclassmen pretty much had to participate in before they could graduate.

Haele