Ron Paul Blames 9/11 On Government ‘Prohibit[ing] Guns From Being On The Airplane’
By Ian Millhiser on Jul 8, 2011 at 2:45 pm
In an interview touting his self-parodying bill to privatize airport security, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) made the remarkable claim that the 9/11 attacks occurred as a result of the government prohibiting firearms on airplanes:
PAUL: The responsibility [to ensure airport security] should be on the airlines. Just as it’s on—the responsibility—of the owners of chemical plants of the owners of armored cars. They take charge of that, and they do a very, very good job. And the government was in charge of security before 9/11 and they did a lousy job. They prohibited guns from being on the airplane, and they said nobody should resist, and so we set the stage for 9/11.
watch the video:
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/07/08/264114/ron-paul-blames-911-on-government-prohibiting-guns-from-being-on-the-airplane/
Later in the same interview, Paul took his ultra-libertarian attitude even further, suggesting that the free market should allow customers to decide how much security they want — even if that means permitting racial profiling:
QUESTION: If you privatize airport screening and security, how does profiling fit into that?
PAUL: Well they’re allowed to. Because a private company has an obligation. If you don’t like the airline, and they do too much profiling, then don’t fly on that airline.
DO SOMETHING!
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