Raskin Destroys Roy After Republican Claims Insurrections Are Protected By Constitution: ‘Absolutely Absurd!’

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) delivered a powerful rebuttal to Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and what Raskin calls his “insurrectionist view” of the constitution: that the Second Amendment gives American citizens the right to take up arms against the government and the police.

Prior to Raskin’s impassioned speech, Roy argued that defending oneself against “tyranny” is “the reality of the purpose of the Second Amendment,” citing Patrick Henry and the Federalist Papers a number of times. He also said that the principles of the constitution are today “exactly the same” as they were when it was written.

This is not the first time Roy has claimed the Second Amendment affords Americans the right to take up arms against the government. In a congressional hearing on October 27, 2021, Roy responded to the question, “You said that you could use a semi-automatic weapon to fight tyranny, you mean you’d use it against American troops?” in the affirmative, saying, “The very existence of the Second Amendment is designed purposefully to empower the people to be able to resist the force of tyranny used against them to step over their natural rights given to them by God.”

Raskin took issue with Roy’s comments, arguing “this reading is totally, absolutely absurd and flies in the face of the plain text of the constitution which in at least five different places clearly forbids armed violent resistance to the government.” He went on to quote a number of clauses in the constitution that suggest it does in fact oppose citizens violently overthrowing their government.

Raskin further suggested that Roy should read more of the constitution, “before cavalierly suggesting in public that citizens somehow have a constitutional right to use weapons against our government and our police.” He also noted that Patrick Henry opposed the U.S. Constitution because of this very reason.

He concluded with, “That’s not constitutional law, that’s a constitutional joke,” to audible, scattered applause that was quickly interrupted.