Former congressman Bob Barr will visit Lawrence Tuesday, Jan. 23. Hosted by the Lawrence University Sportsman’s Club, Barr will give a speech titled “The Second Amendment Is More Than Just Guns.”
As founder and chairman of the club, Gabe Gonzalez explained why they are hosting the event. “As hunting and shooting are a major aspect of sportsman’s activities, the issue of the Second Amendment and its need to be protected is important to the Sportsman’s Club.”
Barr’s speech will explore “the meaning of citizens’ ‘right to keep and bear arms,’ which ‘shall not be infringed’ and why it is an important liberty to protect,” Gonzalez said.
Barr, Republican congressman for Georgia’s 7th district from 1995 to 2003, is a “nationally acclaimed pro-Second Amendment speaker,” said Gonzalez.
He added that Barr is a board member of the National Rifle Association.
The former congressman’s background also includes an appointment by President Reagan as the United States Attorney for the northern district of Georgia, as well as service in the Central Intelligence Agency from 1971 to 1978.
Currently, he is president of Liberty Strategies, LLC. In this organization, Gonzalez said, Barr “serves as an advocate for various civil liberties.”
Along with several television appearances on national news programs, Barr also appeared in “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.”
In the film, actor Sacha Baron Cohen offers Barr a slice of cheese-announcing soon afterwards that it was made from his wife’s breast milk. According to a Jan. 11 Washington Post article by Ellen Nakashima, Barr has not seen the film.
Barr wrote a book, “The Meaning of Is: The Squandered Impeachment and Wasted Legacy of William Jefferson Clinton,” published by Stroud and Hall in 2004.
He writes, “Bill Clinton will go down in history as a failed president, because he had the intelligence and opportunity required for greatness, but suffered from fundamental character flaws.”
“The speech is open to the public as well as Lawrence students free of charge,” Gonzalez said. Barr’s presentation will take place Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. in Science Hall 102.
Bob Barr to discuss role of the second amendment
