Gun Quotes
Here are my favorite gun quotes.
~ Aristotle Sabouni
Created: 2017-04-29 |
Gun Quotes : Liberty[edit source]
- Gun control defined: The theory that people who are willing to ignore laws against rape, torture, kidnapping, theft, and murder will obey a law which prohibits them from owning a firearm. ~ Unknown
- Don't think of it as `gun control', think of it as `victim disarmament'. If we make enough laws, we can all be criminals. ~ Unknown
- If the Government doesn't trust us with our guns, why should we trust them with theirs? ~ Unknown
- When only cops have guns, it's called a "police state". ~ Unknown
- A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. ~ Edward R. Murrow
- “The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates.” ~ Tacitus
- “A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn’t own.” ~ Unknown
Gun Quotes : Founding Fathers[edit source]
- “Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples’ liberty’s teeth.” ~ George Washington
- “A free people ought to be armed.”~ George Washington
- "The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good" ~ George Washington
- "The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed." ~ Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers at 184-188
- "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government" ~ Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334
- "As to the species of exercise, I advise the gun. While this gives [only] moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise, and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun, therefore, be the constant companion to your walks." ~ Thomas Jefferson, writing to his teenaged nephew.
- "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."~ Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.
- “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.” ~ Benjamin Franklin, 1759
- “Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion in private self defense.” ~ John Adams
- “Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” ~ William Pitt, Nov. 18, 1783
- "Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined." ~ Patrick Henry, speech of June 5 1788
- “The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.” ~ James Madison
- "To disarm the people... was the best and most effectual way to enslave them." ~ George Mason, speech of June 14, 1788
- "The said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms..." ~ Samuel Adams
- “To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.”~ Richard Henry Lee
Gun Quotes : Legal[edit source]
- "The right of bearing arms for a lawful purpose is not a right granted by the Constitution; neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence.” ~ Supreme Court: U.S. vs Cruikshank
- "The right of a citizen to bear arms, in lawful defense of himself or the State, is absolute. He does not derive it from the State government. It is one of the high powers delegated directly to the citizen, and is excepted out of the general powers of government. A law cannot be passed to infringe upon or impair it, because it is above the law, and independent of the lawmaking power.” ~ Supreme Court: Cockrum v. State
- Supreme Court: D.C. versus Heller (and other rulings) concluded that the 2nd, "protects an individual's right to possess a firearm, unconnected to service in a militia".
- "The Second Amendment is not the right to shoot deer, it is to defend your liberties if we're taken over by tyrants" ~ Judge Andrew Napolitano (New Jersey Superior Court Judge, Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law at Brooklyn Law School)
- "Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficient... The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding." ~ Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
- "One of the ordinary modes, by which tyrants accomplish their purposes without resistance, is, by disarming the people, and making it an offense to keep arms." ~ Constitutional scholar Joseph Story, 1840
- Men trained in arms from their infancy, and animated by the love of liberty, will afford neither a cheap or easy conquest. ~ From the Declaration of the Continental Congress, July 1775.
- The [2nd Amendment] may be considered as the true palladium of liberty… The right of self defense is the first law of nature.... Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color of pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction. ~ St. George Tucker (One of the first Judges and law professors to write about the 2A)
- No kingdom can be secured otherwise than by arming the people. The possession of arms is the distinction between a freeman and a slave. ~ Political Disquisitions, a British republican tract of 1774-1775
Gun Quotes : Militia Meaning[edit source]
At the time of the writing, the definition of militia was, "The whole body of civilians, that are NOT part of the regular army”. Since the Guard/Reserves are part of the regular army (or reserves), they are the unorganized militia (which was everyone else). Basically, anyone old enough to defend their home, town or country (that was not in the army already) was the militia.
Some people mistakenly think it means reserves or National Guard (established 1903, and subject to federal control) — but since those didn’t exist at the time of authoring, there is no way it could have been the type of body envisioned by the framers. Today’s legal definition is, the "militia" consists of "all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age”, with a few exclusions for medical, mental or job deferments (by their choice) (10 U.S.C. 311 and 32 U.S.C. 313).
You don’t have to take my word for it, there are multiple Constitutional rulings and the words of the authors listed below — but they’re all variants of the following:
- ...It is always dangerous to the liberties of the people to have an army stationed among them, over which they have no control...The Militia is composed of free Citizens. There is therefore no Danger of their making use of their power to the destruction of their own Rights, or suffering others to invade them. ~ Samuel Adams
- ...A well-regulated Milita, composed of the Gentlemen, Freeholders, and other Freemen was necessary to protect our ancient laws and liberty from the standing army... ~ George Mason
- A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves...and include all men capable of bearing arms . . . To preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms… ~ Additional Letters From the Federal Farmer 53, 1788 Richard Henry Lee
- I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people... To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.” ~ during Virginia's ratification convention, 1788 George Mason
- I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials.” ~ 3 Elliott, Debates at 425-426 George Mason
- (a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age...
(b) The classes of the militia are - (1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and (2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are NOT members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia. ~ Militia: composition and classes Federal Law: 10 U.S.C. § 311. - "The right of bearing arms for a lawful purpose is not a right granted by the Constitution; neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence.” ~ (1876) U.S. vs Cruikshank
- "The argument that today's National Guardsmen, members of a select militia, would constitute the only persons entitled to keep and bear arms has no historical foundation.” ~ Professor of History.
Author, To Keep and Bear Arms (1994) Joyce Lee Malcolm - "The militia is comprised of all able-bodied males" ~ (1939) U.S. v. Miller
- the 2nd Amendment does not protect “the right of militiamen to keep and bear arms,” but rather “the right of the people.” ~ (2007) U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
- while agreeing with the 2007 D.C. Circuit ruling, they added, "[t]he adjective 'well-regulated' implies nothing more than the imposition of proper discipline and training.” ~ U.S. Supreme Court
- The 2nd Amendment, "protects an individual's right to possess a firearm, unconnected to service in a militia” ~ D.C. versus Heller
- "All citizens capable of bearing arms constitute the reserve militia, and the states cannot prohibit the people from keeping and bearing arms so as to disable the people from performing the (militia) duty to the general government.” ~ (1865) Presser v. Illinois
Quotes[edit | edit source]
Supporting Opinions[edit | edit source]
Gun Quotes : Militia Dependent[edit source]
Another common wrong-headed argument is that "you’d have to be in the militia to qualify for the 2nd’s protections".
But they’re failing at English and what many English scholars have said about that argument. The "well regulated militia" phrase is an "nominative absolute” phrase which can be ignored. It is merely explanatory (descriptive) and dependent on the rest of the sentence (not the rest of the sentence is a dependent clause on it). Since you ignore nominative/descriptive clauses, the 2nd can be read, "The right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed.”
Or another example I use, is rewrite the 1A in the phrasing of the 2A. No one would read THAT as you have to be a well-schooled electorate in order to keep and read books. The right to keep and read books must not be infringed, so we can all participate in a well schooled electorate. Duh! Those arguing this are either dishonest, ignorant or being intentionally abtuse.
"Shall not be infringed" is not the type of wording one puts in, when something is conditionally dependent on something else.
Historical Context[edit | edit source]
Remember the history: the colonists', war of independence was started when the British army marched on Lexington and Concord to try to enforce a recently-passed 'assault weapons' ban. Paul Revere's ride with "the British are coming”, doesn’t make sense out of context: the British Regulars had been in America all along. (We were British). The point of the cry was to warn everyone that, "the British military was coming to take away our guns!” The king had said we did not need our own arms, we must trust the king's army to protect us! (Which means the ability to defend ourselves, and self determine our own fates as free men). And that’s much of what started the revolutionary war (and the shot heard ‘round the world’).
This nation was founded on freedoms (including gun freedoms), and to guaranteed no more encroachments on individual liberties. The founders felt that government/politicians would be less likely to infringe on the rights of individuals knowing that they might be shot for doing so, or that corrupt laws could be resisted if politicians passed them anyways. That’s why they didn’t create standing armies (in times of peace), but only armies in times of need. We may have evolved to allow standing armies later, but that doesn’t change the intent for individual liberty of self-defense, nor eliminate the rights of the people to have their own guns. What are the odds the 2nd protection of liberty that these folks write into the constitution, is going to say, "we just fought a war over protecting our right to self defense and determination, but in the future, we want people to only be able to own guns if they are part of our army/militia". It's not only a wrong argument, it's historically non-sensical.
To remove any doubt of that, here's quotes that back up what they were thinking:
Those don't sound like quotes from people likely to say "only those beholden to the State Military should be able to own guns". Separatists that had been driven out of England, then driven into war with England (the largest power in the world), were damn well not going to make the mistakes of becoming slaves/wards of their new government by saying only government drones could have guns.
Gun Quotes : Individual Right[edit source]
A recent invention is, "before the NRA got to it, the 2nd Amendment wasn’t an individual right". That somehow this a collective right of the people (not of individuals), thus "the people" can regulate it away. However, history, the authors words and six relevant Supreme Court decisions all disagree. The idea of "collective rights" post-dates the Constitution.
Gun Quotes : Well Regulated[edit source]
Well regulated means, "something being in proper working order”, well calibrated or functioning as expected. Even if we pretend that it means “government regulated”, it would still be irrelevant because it is part of a nominative/descriptive clause, and wouldn't change their right to bear arms ("shall not be infringed").
| 💭 Civic Responsibility |
|---|
| There’s an even more expansive view, that “well regulated” points to the 2nd being more than just a 19th century usage of the term, "an individual right", but instead is the 18th century usage which means "civic right". This is even worse for gun controllers, because that view means that you not only had a right to bear arms to belong to a militia, but you also have a civic duty (civic responsibility) as a citizen to do so (almost mandatory service). Which implies that anyone is failing in their responsibilities as Americans to NOT buy guns and become part of a well functioning militia. So the gun-controllers are better off with it being an individual right than it being a civic one. |
However the invention that "well regulated" might be a back door to inventing new restrictions on the 2nd, wasn’t first heard until the 1960’s. (This was after the first wave of gun control in the 20’s and 30’s had only increased our crimes and shootings).
So what this argument is arrogantly proclaiming is that in the 1960's they discovered a word ambiguity that the Founding Fathers, and their progeny, never knew of. Thus for the first 200+ years of the country, every Historian, Linguist, Legal and Constitutional scholar or mind that had read these things, was too stupid to realize what the 2nd really meant, and thus we should ignore all that common sense and stare decisis (legal precedence, and history), because a few hippie progressives knew more than everyone else before them, combined.
Does anyone really buy that?
Gun Quotes : Famous People[edit source]
- "Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest." ~ Mahatma Gandhi
- “If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.” ~ Dalai Lama (Seattle Times, 05-15-2001)
- ” … the right to defend one’s home and one’s person when attacked has been guaranteed through the ages by common law.” ~ Martin Luther King
- Love your country, but never trust its government. ~ Robert A. Heinlein.
- “A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity.” ~ Sigmund Freud
- This is an abbreviated paraphrase of Dreams in Folklore (1958), p. 33, which read: "The representation of the penis as a weapon, cutting knife, dagger etc., is familiar to us from the anxiety dreams of abstinent women in particular and also lies at the root of numerous phobias in neurotic people."
- "Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. ... The right of citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against the tyranny which now appears remote in America but which historically has proven to be possible." ~ Senator Hubert H. Humphrey (1960)
- "Unless you are definite, you must not suppose that you are speaking a language that can become law." ~ Plato, "Laws", Book IV" (≈360BC). NOTE: Gun-controllers don't know enough about the subject to be definite.
Gun Quotes : Opponents[edit source]
Here are some famous gun controllers (2A Opponents):
- The people of the various provinces are strictly forbidden to have in their possession any swords, short swords, bows, spears, firearms, or other types of arms. The possession of unnecessary implements makes difficult the collection of taxes and dues and tends to foment uprisings. ~ Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Shogun, August 1588
- Every Communist must grasp the truth, 'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.' ~ Mao Tse-tung, 1938, inadvertently endorsing the Second Amendment.
- “All political power comes from the barrel of a gun. The Communist Party must command all the guns, that way, no guns can ever be used to command the party.” ~ Mao Tse-tung
- The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to permit the conquered Eastern peoples to have arms. History teaches that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by doing so. ~ Adolf Hitler, April 11 1942
- This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilised nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future! ~ Adolf Hitler
- “You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.” ~ Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
- The measures adopted to restore public order are: First of all, the elimination of the so-called subversive elements .... They were elements of disorder and subversion. On the morrow of each conflict I gave the categorical order to confiscate the largest possible number of weapons of every sort and kind. This confiscation, which continues with the utmost energy, has given satisfactory results." ~ Benito Mussolini
- "The more complicated in the form of civilization, the more restrictive of freedom we must become". ~ Bonito Mussolini
- "Banning guns addresses a fundamental right of all Americans to feel safe." ~ Dianne Feinstein
- "If I could have banned them all - 'Mr. and Mrs. America turn in your guns' - I would have!" ~ Diane Feinstein
- “If the opposition disarms, well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves.” ~Joseph Stalin
- “I did not join the resistance movement to kill people, to kill the nation. Look at me now. Am I a savage person? My conscience is clear.” ~ Pol Pot
- “Armas para que? (“Guns, for what?”)” A response to Cuban citizens who said the people might need to keep their guns, after Castro announced strict gun control in Cuba. ~ Fidel Castro
- "My view of guns is simple. I hate guns and I cannot imagine why anyone would want to own one. If I had my way, guns for sport would be registered, and all other guns would be banned." ~ Deborah Prothrow-Stith (Dean of Harvard School of Public Health)
- Our task of creating a socialist America can only succeed when those who would resist us have been totally disarmed.~ Sarah Brady
- We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans... ~ Bill Clinton
- There is no reason for anyone in this country -- anyone except a police officer or military person -- to buy, to own, to have, to use a handgun. The only way to control handgun use in this country is to prohibit the guns. ~ Bill Clinton
- The purpose of government is to rein in the rights of the people. ~ Bill Clinton
- When we got organized as a country and we wrote a fairly radical Constitution with a radical Bill of Rights, giving a radical amount of individual freedom to Americans ... And so a lot of people say there's too much personal freedom. When personal freedom's being abused, you have to move to limit it. That's what we did in the announcement I made last weekend on the public housing projects, about how we're going to have weapon sweeps and more things like that to try to make people safer in their communities. ~ Bill Clinton
- It is often easier for our children to obtain a gun than it is to find a good school. ~ Joycelyn Elders
- "I don't care if you want to hunt, I don't care if you think it's your right. I say 'Sorry.' it's 1999. We have had enough as a nation. You are not allowed to own a gun, and if you do own a gun I think you should go to prison." ~ Rosie O'Donnell (At about the time she said this, Rosie engaged the services of a bodyguard who applied for a gun permit.)
- "Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country." ~ Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, DC
- Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas. ~ Joseph Stalin
This first one sums up the anti-gun position perfectly.
- "People who feel safer with a gun than guaranteed medical insurance don't yet have a fully adult concept of scary." ~ William Gibson
(It went on to say that "Fear is what motivates most gun extremists, and it's misdirected").
This is a false-dichotomy fallacy, that misrepresents the argument, by a SciFi author with no knowledge of guns or gun control. But I do agree that fear of guns is the problem. It's those that fear their neighbors having a gun for sport or self defense, that are the intolerant extremists that cause friction in society by trying to take other people's liberty and property away. (They will sacrifice others liberty to assuage their fears based on ignorance). <onlyinclude> Here are some famous gun controllers (2A Opponents):
- The people of the various provinces are strictly forbidden to have in their possession any swords, short swords, bows, spears, firearms, or other types of arms. The possession of unnecessary implements makes difficult the collection of taxes and dues and tends to foment uprisings. ~ Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Shogun, August 1588
- Every Communist must grasp the truth, 'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.' ~ Mao Tse-tung, 1938, inadvertently endorsing the Second Amendment.
- “All political power comes from the barrel of a gun. The Communist Party must command all the guns, that way, no guns can ever be used to command the party.” ~ Mao Tse-tung
- The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to permit the conquered Eastern peoples to have arms. History teaches that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by doing so. ~ Adolf Hitler, April 11 1942
- This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilised nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future! ~ Adolf Hitler
- “You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.” ~ Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
- The measures adopted to restore public order are: First of all, the elimination of the so-called subversive elements .... They were elements of disorder and subversion. On the morrow of each conflict I gave the categorical order to confiscate the largest possible number of weapons of every sort and kind. This confiscation, which continues with the utmost energy, has given satisfactory results." ~ Benito Mussolini
- "The more complicated in the form of civilization, the more restrictive of freedom we must become". ~ Bonito Mussolini
- "Banning guns addresses a fundamental right of all Americans to feel safe." ~ Dianne Feinstein
- "If I could have banned them all - 'Mr. and Mrs. America turn in your guns' - I would have!" ~ Diane Feinstein
- “If the opposition disarms, well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves.” ~Joseph Stalin
- “I did not join the resistance movement to kill people, to kill the nation. Look at me now. Am I a savage person? My conscience is clear.” ~ Pol Pot
- “Armas para que? (“Guns, for what?”)” A response to Cuban citizens who said the people might need to keep their guns, after Castro announced strict gun control in Cuba. ~ Fidel Castro
- "My view of guns is simple. I hate guns and I cannot imagine why anyone would want to own one. If I had my way, guns for sport would be registered, and all other guns would be banned." ~ Deborah Prothrow-Stith (Dean of Harvard School of Public Health)
- Our task of creating a socialist America can only succeed when those who would resist us have been totally disarmed.~ Sarah Brady
- We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans... ~ Bill Clinton
- There is no reason for anyone in this country -- anyone except a police officer or military person -- to buy, to own, to have, to use a handgun. The only way to control handgun use in this country is to prohibit the guns. ~ Bill Clinton
- The purpose of government is to rein in the rights of the people. ~ Bill Clinton
- When we got organized as a country and we wrote a fairly radical Constitution with a radical Bill of Rights, giving a radical amount of individual freedom to Americans ... And so a lot of people say there's too much personal freedom. When personal freedom's being abused, you have to move to limit it. That's what we did in the announcement I made last weekend on the public housing projects, about how we're going to have weapon sweeps and more things like that to try to make people safer in their communities. ~ Bill Clinton
- It is often easier for our children to obtain a gun than it is to find a good school. ~ Joycelyn Elders
- "I don't care if you want to hunt, I don't care if you think it's your right. I say 'Sorry.' it's 1999. We have had enough as a nation. You are not allowed to own a gun, and if you do own a gun I think you should go to prison." ~ Rosie O'Donnell (At about the time she said this, Rosie engaged the services of a bodyguard who applied for a gun permit.)
- "Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country." ~ Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, DC
- Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas. ~ Joseph Stalin
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