"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 Ghandi

"Extremism in the defense of liberty, is no vice..." Barry Goldwater

"No kingdom can be secured otherwise than by arming the people. The
possession of arms is the distinction between a freeman and a slave. He,
who has nothing, and who himself belongs to another, must be defended by
him, whose property he is, and needs no arms. But he, who thinks he is
his own master, and has what he can call his own, ought to have arms to
defend himself, and what he possesses; else he lives precariously, and at
discretion." -- James Burgh "Political Disquisitions: Or, an Enquiry into
Public Errors, Defects, and Abuses" [London, 1774-1775]



 Executive Orders and 
 States of Emergency 


Senate Report 93-459 begins: "Since 1933, the United States has been in
a state of declared national emergency... A majority of the people of
the United States have lived all their lives under emergency rule. For
40 years (as of 1973), freedoms and governmental procedures guaranteed
by he Constitution have in varying degrees been abridged by laws
brought into force by states of national emergency."



 Senator Orrin Hatch 
"What the subcommittee on the Constitution uncovered was clear - and long
lost - proof that the Second Amendment to our Constitution was intended
as an individual right of the American citizen to keep and carry arms in
a peaceful manner, for protection of himself, his family, and his
freedoms." -- Senator Orrin Hatch, Chairman, Subcommittee on the
Constitution - Preface, "The Right To Keep And Bear Arms"



 George Washington 
 President 


"Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is a force, like fire
a dangerous servant and a terrible master." -- George Washington




 James Madison 
 President 



"The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not infringed; a
well armed, and well regulated militia being the best security of a free
country: but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be
compelled to render military service in person." - [This was Madison's
original proposal for the "Second Amendment" -- James Madison, I Annuals
of Congress 434 (June 8, 1789).

"It is not certain that with this aid alone [possession of arms], they
would not be able to shake off their yokes. But were the people to
possess the additional advantages of local governments chosen by
themselves, who could collect the national will, and direct the national
force; and of officers appointed out of the militia, by these governments
and attached both to them and to the militia, it may be affirmed with the
greatest assurance, that the throne of every tyranny in Europe would be
speedily overturned, in spite of the legions which surround it." -- James
Madison "Federalist No. 46"

"A government resting on the minority is an aristocracy, not a Republic,
and could not be safe with a numerical and physical force against it,
without a standing army, an enslaved press and a disarmed populace." --
James Madison, The Federalist Papers (No. 46).

"Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the
citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the
people with arms." -- James Madison, The Federalist Papers #46 at 243-
244

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of
the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by
violent and sudden usurpations." -- James Madison



 John Stuart Mill 

"The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any
member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to
others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient
warrant." -- John Stuart Mill, "On Liberty" 1859

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and
degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth
a war, is worse. When a people are used as mere human instruments for
firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish
purposes of a master, such war degrades a people. A war to protect other
human beings against tyrannical injustice; a war to give victory to their
own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for
an honest purpose by their free choice, -- is often the means of their
regeneration. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for,
nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety,
is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and
kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as justice
and injustice have not terminated their ever- renewing fight for
ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when
need is, to do battle for the one against the other." -- John Stuart
Mill, "The Contest in America," Dissertations and Discussions, vol. 1, p.
26 (1868). First published in Fraser's Magazine, February 1862.



 William Rawle 


"The prohibition is general. No clause in the Constitution could by rule
of construction be conceived to give the Congress the power to disarm the
people. Such a flagitious attempt could only be made under some general
pretense by a state legislature. But if in blind pursuit of inordinate
power, either should attempt it, this amendment may be appealed to as a
restraint on both." -- William Rawle, 1825; considered academically to be
an expert commentator on the Constitution. He was offered the position of
the first Attorney General of the United States, by President Washington.




 Tench Coxe 


"Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we
shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom? Congress shall have
no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible
implement of the soldier, are the birth-right of an American ... The
unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or
state governments, but where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the
hands of the People." -- Tench Coxe - 1788.

"As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them,
may attempt to tyrannize, ... the people are confirmed by the next
article in their right to keep and bear arms." -- Tench Coxe in "Remarks
on the First Part of the Amendments to the Federal Constitution", Federal
Gazette, June 18, 1789



 Thomas Paine 


"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men,
undergo the fatigue of supporting it." -- Thomas Paine

"The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be
preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike;
but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside. ... Horrid
mischief would ensue were one half the world deprived of the use of them;
... the weak will become a prey to the strong." -- Thomas Paine

"The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the
other hand, arms like laws discourage and keep the invader and the
plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property.
The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be
preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike;
but since some others them aside... Horrid mischief would ensue were one
half the world deprived of the use of them; ... the weak will become the
prey to the strong." -- Thomas Paine, I Writings of Thomas Paine at 56
(1775).




 Patrick Henry 


"The great object is that every man be armed, everyone who is able might
have a gun." -- Patrick Henry (3 Elliot, Debates at 386)

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who
approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but
downright force. When you give up that force, you are ruined." -- Patrick
Henry, speaking to the Virginia convention for the ratification of the
constitution on the necessity of the right to keep and bear arms.

"Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation,
that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the
difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction,
and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the
real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with
more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?" -- Patrick
Henry, Philadelphia, 1836.

"They tell us, Sir, that we are weak -- unable to cope with so formidable
an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or
the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a
British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength
by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual
resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive
phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?
Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the
God of nature hath placed in our power." -- Patrick Henry (1736-1799) in
his famous "The War Inevitable" speech, March, 1775

"Three millions of People, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in
such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force
which our enemy can send against us. Beside, Sir, we shall not fight our
battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of
Nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us." --
Patrick Henry (1736-1799) in his famous "The War Inevitable" speech,
March, 1775

"The battle, Sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the
active, the brave. Besides, Sir, we have no election. If we were base
enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There
is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their
clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable; and
let it come! I repeat, Sir, let it come!" -- Patrick Henry (1736-1799) in
his famous "The War Inevitable" speech, March, 1775

"It is in vain, Sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace,
Peace! -- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale
that sweeps from the North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding
arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What
is it that Gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or
peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?
Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as
for me, give me liberty or give me death!" -- Patrick Henry (1736-1799)
in his famous "The War Inevitable" speech, March, 1775



 Thomas Jefferson 
 President 


"The constitutions of most of our states [and of the United States]
assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise
it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times
armed and that they are entitled to freedom of person, freedom of
religion, freedom of property, and freedom of press." -- Thomas Jefferson

"And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not
warned from time to time that this people preserve the spirit of
resistance? Let them take arms ... The tree of liberty must be refreshed
from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its
natural manure." -- Thomas Jefferson in a letter to William Stephens
Smith on November 13, 1787. Taken from "Jefferson, On Democracy," page
20, S. Padover edition, 1939.


"No 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 the tyranny in government. --
Thomas Jefferson, June 1776


"The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time."-- Thomas
Jefferson (1774). From "The Papers of Thomas Jefferson," edited by Julian
P. Boyd, vol. 9, p. 151 (1954).


"A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I
advise the gun. While this gives 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 of your walk." -- Encyclopedia of Thomas Jefferson, 318 (Foley,
Editor, reissued 1967)


"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form
of tyranny over the mind of man." -- Vice President Thomas Jefferson,
letter to Benjamin Rush, September 23, 1800. -- The Writings of Thomas
Jefferson, ed. Andrew A. Lipscomb, vol. 10, p. 175 (1903). Carved at the
base of the dome, interior of the Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C.


[Regarding the Revolutionary War] "Yet where does this anarchy exist?
Where did it ever exist, except in the single instance of Massachusetts?
And can history produce an instance of a rebellion so honourably
conducted? ... God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a
rebellion. The people can not be all, and always, well informed. The part
which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of
the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such
misconceptions it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public
liberty." -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Stephens Smith, November
13, 1787. -- The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd, vol. 12,
p. 356 (1955).




 Alexander Hamilton 
 President 


"...for it is a truth, which the experience of all ages has attested,
that the people are commonly most in danger when the means of insuring
their rights are in the possession of those of whom they entertain the
least suspicion." -- Alexander Hamilton


"The best that we can hope for concerning the people at large is that
they be properly armed." -- Alexander Hamilton (The Federalist Papers at
184-8)


"Arms in the hands of citizens [may] be used at individual discretion...
in private self-defense..." -- John Adams, A Defense of the Constitutions
of the Government of the USA, 471 (1788).


"Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be
unfurled, there will be America's heart, her benedictions and prayers,
but she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the
well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion
and vindicator of her own." -- John Quincy Adams, 1821.


"That 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 in
arguing for a Bill of Rights, from the book "Massachusetts," published by
Pierce & Hale, Boston, 1850, pg. 86-87.


"If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is
then no resource left but in the exertion of that original right of self-
defence which is paramount to all positive forms of government, and which
against the usurpations of the national rulers, may be exerted with
infinitely better prospect of success than against the rulers of an
individual state. In a single state, if the persons intrusted with
supreme power become usurpers, the different parcels, subdivisions, or
districts of which it consists, having no distinct government in each,
can take no regular measures for defense. The citizens must rush
tumultuously to arms, without concert, without system, without resource;
except in their courage and despair." -- "Daily Advertiser," 10 January,
1788, collected in Federalist Paper 28



 Richard Henry Lee 


"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 writing in "Letters from the Federal
Farmer to the Republic", 1787-1788


"The militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves,
... [T]he Constitution ought to secure a genuine [militia] and guard
against a select militia, by providing that the militia shall always be
kept well organized, armed, and disciplined, and include ... all men
capable of bearing arms;..." -- Richard Henry Lee writing in "Letters
from the Federal Farmer to the Republic", 1788, page 169.



 Eldridge Gerry 
 Representative 


"What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment
of a standing army, the bane of liberty.... Whenever Governments mean to
invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to
destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins." -- Rep.
Eldridge Gerry of Massachusetts (spoken during floor debate over the
Second Amendment [I Annals of Congress at 750 {August 17, 1789}])


"This declaration of rights, I take it, is intended to secure the people
against the maladministration of the Government, if we could suppose
that, in all cases, the rights of the people would be attended to, the
occasion for guards of this kind would be removed. Now, I am
apprehensive, sir, that this clause would give an opportunity to the
people in power to destroy the Constitution itself. They can declare who
are those religiously scrupulous, and prevent them from bearing arms." --
Eldridge Gerry, speaking on the 2nd Amendment (1 Annals of Cong. Aug. 17,
1789)




 George Mason 


[The American Colonies are] "all democratic governments, where the power
is in the hands of the people and where there is not the least difficulty
or jealousy about putting arms into the hands of every man in the
country. [European countries should not] be ignorant of the strength and
the force of such a form of government and how strenuously and almost
wonderfully people living under one have sometimes exerted themselves in
defence of their rights and liberties and how fatally it has ended with
many a man and many a state who have entered into quarrels, wars and
contests with them." -- George Mason from "Remarks on Annual Elections
for the Fairfax Independent Company" quoted from The Papers of George
Mason, 1725-1792 edited by Robert A. Rutland [Chapel Hill, 1970]


"That a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people
trained to arms, is the proper, natural and safe defense of a free state;
that standing armies in time of peace should be avoided as dangerous to
liberty; and that in all cases the military should be under strict
subordination to, and governed by, the civil power." -- George Mason,
Article 13 of The Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776.


"I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for few
public officials." -- George Mason (3 Elliot, Debates at 425-426)


"Who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except for a
few public officials." -- George Mason, Framer of the Declaration of
Rights, Virginia, 1776, which became the basis for the U.S. Bill of
Rights; 3 Elliot, Debates at 425-426.




 Benjamin Franklin 


"They that would give up essential liberty for a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin


"Instances of the licentious and outrageous behavior of the military
conservators still multiply upon us, some of which are of such nature,
and have been carried to so great lengths, as must serve fully to evince
that a late vote of this town, calling upon its inhabitants to provide
themselves with arms for their defence, was a measure as it was legal
natural right which the people have reserved to themselves, confirmed by
the Bill of Rights, (the post-Cromwellian English bill of rights) to keep
arms for their own defence; and as Mr. Blackstone observes, it is to be
made use of when the sanctions of society and law are found insufficient
to restrain the violence of oppression." -- "A Journal of the Times"
(1768-1769) colonial Boston newspaper article.




 Toyotomi Hideyoshi 


"The people of the various provinces are strictly forbidden to have in
their possession any swords, bows, spears, firearms, or other types of
arms. The possession of these elements makes difficult the collection of
taxes and dues, and tends to permit uprising. Therefore, the heads of
provinces, official agents, and deputies are ordered to collect all the
weapons mentioned above and turn them over to the government." --
Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Shogun, August 29, 1558, Japan.





 Various 


"War to the hilt between capitalism and communism is inevitable. Today,
of course, we are not strong enough to attack. Our time will come in 20
or 30 years. In order to win, we shall need the element of surprise. The
bourgeoisie will have to be put to sleep, so we shall begin by launching
the most spectacular peace movement on record. There will be electrifying
overtures and unheard of concessions. The capitalist countries, stupid
and decadent, will rejoice to cooperate in their own destruction. They
will leap at another chance to be friends. As soon as their guard is
down, we shall smash them with our clenched fist." -- Quoted by Dmitri Z.
Manuisky, Lenin School of Political Warfare (1931).


"Liberals, it has been said, are generous with other peoples' money,
except when it comes to questions of national survival when they prefer
to be generous with other people's freedom and security." -- William F.
Buckley


"In recent years it has been suggested that the Second Amendment protects
the "collective" right of states to maintain militias, while it does not
protect the right of "the people" to keep and bear arms... The phrase
"the people" meant the same thing in the Second Amendment as it did in
the First, Fourth, Ninth and Tenth Amendments -- that is, each and every
free person. A select militia defined as only the privileged class
entitled to keep and bear arms was considered an anathema to a free
society, in the same way that Americans denounced select spokesmen
approved by the government as the only class entitled to the freedom of
the press." -- Stephen P. Holbrook, "That Every Man Be Armed: The
Evolution of a Constitutional Right", University of New Mexico Press,
1984, pp. 83-84.


"Disperse you Rebels - Damn you, throw down your Arms and disperse." --
Maj. John Pitcairn, Lexington, Massachusetts, April 19, 1775





 Aristotle 


"Those, who have the command of the arms in a country are masters of the
state, and have it in their power to make what revolutions they please.
[Thus,] there is no end to observations on the difference between the
measures likely to be pursued by a minister backed by a standing army,
and those of a court awed by the fear of an armed people." -- Aristotle.
Quoted by John Trenchard and Walter Moyle "An Argument Shewing, That a
Standing Army Is Inconsistent with a Free Government, and Absolutely
Destructive to the Constitution of the English Monarchy" [London, 1697]


"To avoid domestic tyranny, the people must be armed to stand upon
[their] own Defence; which if [they] are enabled to do, [they] shall
never be put upon it, but [their] Swords may grow rusty in [their] hands;
for that Nation is surest to live in Peace, that is most capable of
making War; and a Man that hath a Sword by his side, shall have least
occasion to make use of it." -- John Trenchard & Walter Moyle, "An
Argument Shewing, That a Standing Army is Inconsistent With a Free
Government, and Absolutely Destructive to the Constitution of the English
Monarchy" [London, 1697] ("An Argument")


"Men that are above all Fear, soon grow above all Shame." -- John
Trenchard and Thomas Gordon "Cato's Letters: Or, Essays on Liberty, Civil
and Religious, and Other Important Subjects" [London, 1755]


"The right of self-defense is the first law of nature; in most
governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within
the narrowest possible limits. ... and [when] the right of the people to
keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited,
liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction." --
St. George Tucker, Judge of the Virginia Supreme Court and U.S. District
Court of Virginia in, I Blackstone COMMENTARIES St. George Tucker,
Editor, 1803, pg. 300 (App.)


"The difficulty here has been to persuade the citizens to keep arms, not
to prevent them from being employed for violent purposes." -- Dwight
"Travels in New-England"


"The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been
considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it
offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of
rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first
instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them." -- Joseph
Story "Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States; With a
Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and
States before the Adoption of the Constitution" [Boston, 1833]


"...And yet, though this truth would seem so clear, and the importance of
a well regulated militia would seem so undeniable, it cannot be disguised
that among the American people there is a growing indifference to any
system of militia discipline, and a strong disposition, from a sense of
its burdens, to be rid of all regulations." -- Joseph Story "Commentaries
on the Constitution of the United States; With a Preliminary Review of
the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States before the Adoption
of the Constitution" [Boston, 1833]


"How it is practicable to keep the people duly armed without some
organization, it is difficult to see. There is certainly no small danger,
that indifference may lead to disgust, and disgust to contempt; and thus
gradually undermine all the protection intended by this clause of our
national bill of rights." -- Joseph Story "Commentaries on the
Constitution of the United States; With a Preliminary Review of the
Constitutional History of the Colonies and States before the Adoption of
the Constitution" [Boston, 1833]


"The tank, the B-52, the fighter-bomber, the state-controlled police and
military are the weapons of dictatorship. The rifle is the weapon of
democracy. If guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns. Only
the police, the secret police, the military. The hired servants of our
rulers. Only the government-and a few outlaws. I intend to be among the
outlaws." -- Edward Abbey "The Right to Arms" [New York, 1979]


 Machiavelli 
 "The Prince" 


"An armed republic submits less easily to the rule of one of its citizens
than a republic armed by foreign forces. Rome and Sparta were for many
centuries well armed and free. The Swiss are well armed and enjoy great
freedom. Among other evils caused by being disarmed, it renders you
contemptible. It is not reasonable to suppose that one who is armed will
obey willingly one who is unarmed; or that any unarmed man will remain
safe among armed servants." -- Machiavelli, "The Prince" (1532)


"... The answer is that one would like to be both the one and the other;
but because it is difficult to combine them, it is far better to be
feared than loved if you cannot be both. ...Men worry less about doing an
injury to one who makes himself loved than to one who makes himself
feared. The bond of love is one which men, wretched creatures that they
are, break when it is to their advantage to do so; but fear is
strengthened by a dread of punishment which is always effective." - -
Machiavelli - The Prince; Chapter 17


 Albert Einstein 
 Physicist 


"The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of
each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty bound
to do his share in this defense are the constitutional rights secure." --
Albert Einstein


"If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was
landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms -- never -- never --
NEVER! You cannot conquer America." -- William Pitt, Earl of Chatham
Speech in the House of Lords November 18, 1777


"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never -- in nothing,
great or small, large or petty -- never give in except to convictions of
honor and good sense." -- Winston Spencer Churchill Address at Harrow
School, October 29, 1941


"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however
long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival."
-- Winston Spencer Churchill


"In war you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times." --
Winston Churchill


"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the
subject." -- Winston Churchill


"I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught."
-- Winston Churchill


"Never turn your back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it.
If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly
and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away
from anything. Never!" -- Winston Churchill


God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to
guard and defend it." -- Daniel Webster


"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do
nothing." -- Edmund Burke


"Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time
that men have died to win them." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt


"You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I
say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!" -- Oliver
Cromwell in dissolving Parliament, 1653


"Congress may give us a select militia which will, in fact, be a standing
army -- or Congress, afraid of a general militia, may say there shall be
no militia at all. When a select militia is formed; the people in general
may be disarmed." -- John Smilie


"If the laws of the Union were oppressive, they could not carry them into
effect, if the people were possessed of the proper means of defence." --
William Lenoir


"Whenever people...entrust the defence of their country to a regular,
standing army, composed of mercenaries, the power of that country will
remain under the direction of the most wealthy citizens..." -- "A Framer"
in The Independent Gazetteer, 1791


 Lyndon Baines Johnson 
 President 


"You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will
convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would
do and the harm it would cause if improperly administered." -- Lyndon
Baines Johnson, former Senator and President.


 Abraham Lincoln 
 President 


"We, the People are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts
- not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow men who pervert the
Constitution." -- Abraham Lincoln


"What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is
not... the guns of our war steamers, or the strength of our gallant and
disciplined army... our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has
planted in our bosoms." -- Abraham Lincoln, 1858


"Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?" -- Abraham
Lincoln



 Arkansas 
 Supreme Court 


"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army
pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and
gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege."
-- Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878


 Hubert Humphrey 
 Senator 


"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 proved to be always
possible." -- Senator Hubert Humphrey


 Adolph Hitler 
 Dictator 


"The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the
subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have
allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own
downfall by doing so." -- Adolf Hitler


 Mahatma Ghandi 
 Teacher 


"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 Ghandi


 George S. Patton 
 General 


"There is only one tactical principal which is not subject to change. It
is to use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wounds,
death, and destruction in the minimum amount of time." -- General George
S. Patton


"The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other
bastard die for his." -- General George S. Patton



"They have rights who dare maintain them." -- James Russell Lowell



 Dwight D. Eisenhower 
 President 


"The one weapon every man, soldier, sailor, or airman-should be able to
use effectively is the rifle. It is always his weapon of personal safety
in an emergency, and for many it is the primary weapon of offence and
defense. Expertness in its use cannot be over emphasized." -- General (5
star and later U.S. President) Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1943.

"I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has
seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity." -- 5 Star General and
former President Dwight David Eisenhower



 Mark Twain 
 American Writer 


We, free citizens of the Great Republic, feel an honest pride in her
greatness, her strength, her just and gentle government, her wide
liberties, her honored name, her stainless history, her unbesmirched
flag, her hands clean from oppression of the weak and from malicious
conquest, her hospitable door that stands open to the hunted and the
persecuted of all nations; we are proud of the judicious respect in which
she is held by monarchies which hem her in on every side, and proudest of
all of that loft patriotism which we inherited from our fathers, which we
have kept pure, and which won our liberties in the beginning and has
preserved them unto this day. While patriotism endures the Republic is
safe, her greatness is secure, and against them the powers of the earth
can not prevail." -- Mark Twain


"Courage is resistance of fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear." --
Mark Twain


"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant, I could hardly
stand to have him around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was
astonished at how much he had learned in seven years." -- Mark Twain



Kill one man and you are a murderer. Kill millions and you are a
conqueror. Kill everyone and you are a God. -- Jean Rostand



 Michigan Courts 


"...while the legislature has power in the most comprehensive manner to
regulate the carrying and use firearms, that body has no power to
constitute it a crime for a person, alien or citizen, to possess a
revolver for the legitimate defense of himself and his property. The
provisions in the Constitution granting the right to all persons to bear
arms is a limitation upon the power of the legislature to enact any law
to the contrary." PEOPLE v. ZERILLO 219 Mich 635


"...The police power of the State to preserve public safety and peace and
to regulate the bearing of arms cannot fairly be restricted to the mere
establishment of conditions under which all sorts of weapons may be
privately possessed, but it may account of the character and ordinary use
of weapons and interdict those whose customary employment by individuals
is to violate the law. The power is, of course, subject to the limitation
that its exercise be reasonable and it cannot constitutionally result in
the prohibition of the possession of those arms which, by the common
opinion and usage of law-abiding people, are proper and legitimate to be
kept upon private premises for the protection of person and property."
PEOPLE v. BROWN 253 Mich 537


 US Courts 


"...The right of the people peacefully to assemble for lawful purposes
existed long before the adoption of the Constitution of the United
States. In fact, it is and always has been one of the attributes of a
free government. It `derives its source,' to use the language of Chief
Justice Marshall, in Gibbons v Ogden, 9 Wheat., 211, `from those laws
whose authority is acknowledged by civilized man throughout the world.'
It is found wherever civilization exists. It was not, therefore, a right
granted to the people by the Constitution... The second and tenth counts
are equally defective. The right there specified is that of `bearing arms
for a lawful purpose.' This is not a right granted by the constitution.
Neither is it in any manner dependant upon that instrument for its
existence. The Second Amendment declares that it shall not infringed; but
this, as has been seen, means no more than it shall not be infringed by
Congress. This is one of the amendments that has no other effect than to
restrict the powers of the National Government..." UNITED STATES v.
CRUIKSHANK; 92 US 542; (1875)


 Tennessee Courts 


"The rifle of all descriptions, the shot gun, the musket and repeater are
such arms; and that under the Constitution the right to keep and bear
arms cannot be infringed or forbidden by the legislature." ANDREWS v.
STATE; 50 Tenn. 165,179,8 Am. Rep. 8, 14 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1871)


"...the right to keep arms necessarily involves the right to purchase
them, to keep them in a state of efficiency for use, and to purchase and
provide ammunition suitable for such arms, and to keep them in repair."
ANDREWS v. STATE; 50 Tenn. (3 Heisk) 165, 178; (1871)


 Alabama Courts 


"...we incline to the opinion that the Legislature cannot inhibit the
citizen from bearing arms openly, because it authorizes him to bear them
for the purposes of defending himself and the State, and it is only when
carried openly, that they can be efficiently used for defence." STATE v.
REID; 1 Ala. 612, 619, 35 Am. Dec. 47; (1840)


 North Carolina 
 Supreme Court 


"The practical and safe construction is that which must have been in the
minds of those who framed our organic law. The intention was to embrace
the 'arms,' an acquaintance with whose use was necessary for their
protection against the usurpation of illegal power - such as rifles,
muskets, shotguns, swords and pistols. These are now but little used in
war; still they are such weapons that they or their like can still be
considered as 'arms' which the [the people] have aright to bear." STATE
v. KERNER; 181 NC 574, 107 SE 222, 224-25 (North Carolina Supreme Court,
1921.)




 OREGON 
 Supreme Court 


"If the text and purpose of the Constitutional guarantee relied
exclusively on the preference for a militia `for defense of the State,'
then the terms `arms' most likely would include only the modern day
equivalents of the weapons used by the Colonial Militia Men." -- STATE v.
KESSLER, 289 Or. 359, 369, 614 p. 2d 94,99 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1980.)



 ARKANSAS 
 Supreme Court 


"To prohibit a citizen from wearing or carrying a war arm . . . is an
unwarranted restriction upon the constitutional right to keep and bear
arms. If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with
army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and
gallows, and not by a general deprivation of constitutional privilege." -
- WILSON v. STATE, 33 Ark. 557, at 560, 34 Am. Rep. 52, at 54 (1878)



 GEORGIA 
 Court 


"`The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.'
The right of the whole people, old and young, men, women and boys, and
not militia only, to keep and bear arms of every description, and not
such merely as are used by the militia, shall not be infringed,
curtailed, or broken in upon, in the smallest degree; and all this for
the important end to be attained: the rearing up and qualifying a well-
regulated militia, so vitally necessary to the security of a free State.
Our opinion is that any law, State or Federal, is repugnant to the
Constitution, and void, which contravenes this right." -- NUNN v. STATE,
1 Ga. (1 Kel.) 243, at 251 (1846)



 Louisiana 
 Courts 


"[T]he right to keep and bear arms guaranteed by the second amendment to
the federal constitution is not carried over into the fourteenth
amendment so as to be applicable to the states." STATE v. AMOS, 343 So.
2d 166, 168 (La. 1977)



 Buckminster Fuller 
 Scientist 


"The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun." -- R. Buckminster
Fuller



"If there is one basic element in our Constitution, it is civilian
control of the military." -- President Harry S. Truman (1884-1972)



A camel is a horse designed by a committee and an elephant is a mouse
built to military specifications." -- from page 321 of "Cryptoanalysis
for Microcomputers" by Caxton C. Foster (University of Massachusetts),
Hayden Book Co. Inc., 1982.



"It appears that the murder rate inside prisons is ten times higher than
that outside prisons. It must be due to all those Kalashnikov rifles that
are issued to prisoners upon their incarceration." -- Jeff Cooper in Guns
& Ammo magazine, August, 1989.



"In all history the only bright rays cutting the gloom of oppression have
come from men who would rather get hurt than give in." -- Jeff Cooper;
from "Pistols and the Law" in "Cooper on Handguns"



"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." --
Santayana



"Americans may like guns because they were reminiscent of the smell of
outdoors, military heroism, the intensity of the hunt or merely because
they are fascinated by the finely machined metal parts. Maybe the origin
of a gun speaks of history; maybe the gun makes a man's home seem to him
less vulnerable; maybe these feelings are more justified in the country
than in the city; but, above all, many of us believe that these feelings
are a man's own business and need not be judged by the Department of the
Treasury or the Department of Justice." -- Samuel Cummings



"If a gun bill will pass because of the politics of the situation, you
must see to it that its burdens are imposed upon a man because of a
criminal background and not because he is an ordinary citizen and perhaps
poor." -- Gen. James H. Doolittle



"...and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one."
Luke 22:36



"In war, there is no substitute for victory." -- General Douglas
MacArthur



"No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in
its preservation." -- General Douglas MacArthur, title of speech to the
people of Japan, May 3, 1948, upon the first anniversary of the Japanese
constitution. -- From the book `MacArthur, A Soldier Speaks,' p. 194
(1965). Francis T. Miller, author of `General Douglas MacArthur - Fighter
for Freedom,' p. 1 (1942), wrote, "[MacArthur] has said many times to
friends: `The man who will not defend his freedom does not deserve to be
free.'"



"In war there is no second prize for the runner-up." -- General Omar
Bradley.



"Wars may be fought with weapons but they are won by men. It is the
spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the
victory." -- General George Patton



The only way to win a war is to prevent it. -- General George Marshall



Professional soldiers are predictable, but the world is full of amateurs.



"You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a
reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the
very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for
independence." -- Charles A. Beard



The anti-gun movement is like a pair of baby's diapers: always on your
ass and full of shit. -- Richard Bash - Combat Arms BBS SysOp.



 Theodore Roosevelt 
 President 


"The great body of our citizens shoot less as times goes on. We should
encourage rifle practice among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes,
as well as in the military services by every means in our power. Thus,
and not otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving peace in the
world... The first step -- in the direction of preparation to avert war
if possible, and to be fit for war if it should come -- is to teach men
to shoot!" -- President Theodore Roosevelt's last message to Congress.


"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the
strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them
better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose
face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who
errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without
error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who
knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a
worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high
achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while
daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and
timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." -- Theodore Roosevelt,
address at the Sorbonne, Paris, France, April 23, 1910. "Citizenship in a
Republic," The Strenuous Life (vol. 13 of The Works of Theodore
Roosevelt, national edition), chapter 21, p. 510 (1926).



 W.H. Rupertus 
 Major General USMC 


"This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My rifle
is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my
life." -- From "My Rifle" by Major General W.H. Rupertus, USMC.

"My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must
fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying
to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will..." -- From "My
Rifle" by Major General W.H. Rupertus, USMC.

"My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds
we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know it is
only the hits that count. We will hit..." -- From "My Rifle" by Major
General W.H. Rupertus, USMC.

"My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn
it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts,
its accessories, its sights, and its barrel. I will ever guard it against
the ravages of weather and damage. I will keep my rifle clean and ready,
even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We
will..." -- From "My Rifle" by Major General W.H. Rupertus, USMC.

"Before God I swear this creed: My rifle and myself are the defenders of
our country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my
life. So be it until victory is America's and there is no enemy, but
Peace!" -- From "My Rifle" by Major General W.H. Rupertus, USMC.



"All military science becomes a matter of simple prudence, its principle
object being to keep an unstable balance from shifting suddenly to our
disadvantage and the proto-war from changing into total war." --
Clausewitz (From the book "On War" by Raymond Aron, Doubleday, New York,
1959).

 Woodrow Wilson 
 President 


"The American Revolution was a beginning, not a consummation." -- Woodrow
Wilson, 28th President of the United States (1856-1924).


 William Lloyd Garrison 


"With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but
with tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will
be certainly be lost." -- William Lloyd Garrison



"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be
the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than
under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may
sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those
who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do
so with the approval of their consciences." -- C.S. Lewis



"I was that which others did not want to be. I went where others feared
to go, and did what others failed to do. I asked nothing from those who
gave nothing, and reluctantly accepted the thought of eternal
loneliness...should I fail. I have seen the face of terror, felt the
stinging cold of fear; and enjoyed the sweet taste of a moment's love. I
have cried, pained, and hoped...but most of all, I have lived times
others would say were best forgotten. At least someday I will be able to
say that I was proud of what I was...a soldier." -- George L. Skypeck



"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." -- William
Shakespeare; Henry VI, Act IV, Scene II, spoken by Dick the Butcher.



"Tell General Howard I know my heart. What he told me before, I have in
my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is
dead. Toohoolhoolzote is dead. The old men are all killed. It is the
young men who say yes or no. He who led the young men [Ollokot; his
brother] is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children
are freezing to death. I want time to look for my children, and see how
many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me,
my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now
stands, I will fight no more forever." -- Chief Joseph; Wallowa Nez Perc‚
tribe; October 5, 1877; Montana, near the Canadian border.



"No man is competent unless he can stalk alone and armed in the
wilderness." -- Townsend Whelen



"Indeed, I am now of the opinion that a compelling case for "stricter gun
control" cannot be made, at least not on empirical grounds. I have
nothing but respect for the various pro-gun control advocates with whom I
have come in contact over the past years. They are, for the most part,
sensitive, humane and intelligent people, and their ultimate aim, to
reduce death and violence in our society, is one that every civilized
person must share. I have, however, come to be convinced that they are
barking up the wrong tree." -- James Wright (scholarly research who
collaborates with Peter Rossi)




"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius,
power and magic in it." -- Goethe




"The great German poet, Goethe, who also lived through a crisis of
freedom, said to his generation: `What you have inherited from your
fathers, earn over again for yourselves or it will not be yours." We
inherited freedom. We seem unaware that freedom has to be remade and re-
earned in each generation of man." -- Adlai E. Stevenson, `Politics and
Morality,' Saturday Review, February 7, 1959, p. 12. He quoted Goethe's
Faust, act I, scene i, "Was du ererbt von deinen Vatern hast, / Erwirb
es, um es zu besitzen." In Randall Jarrell's translation, "That which you
inherit from your fathers / You must earn in order to possess. " --
Goethe's Faust, p. 35 (1976).



LOCK, STOCK, AND BARREL - This phrase, denoting the whole thing, the
entirety of it all, is an old expression, used as early as the American
Revolutionary War. It comes from the three principle parts of a [muzzle
loading] firearm: the barrel, "the pipe down which the bullets are
fired," the lock, "the firing mechanism," and the stock, "the wooden
handle to which the other parts are attached." Together, lock, stock and
barrel referred to the entire gun and the phrase are now used to suggest
the whole of anything. -- M.T. Wyllyamz; 1992; published by Price, Stern,
Sloan, Los Angeles.



 Louis Brandeis 
 Supreme Court Justice 


"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty
when the government's purposes are beneficent....the greatest dangers to
liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but
without understanding." -- Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis



"It is not the function of our government to keep the citizen from
falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the
government from falling into error." -- Justice Robert H. Jackson



 Woodrow Wilson 
 President 


"A great industrial Nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our
system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the Nation and all our
activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the
worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated
Governments in the world -- no longer a Government of free opinion, no
longer a Government by conviction and vote of the majority, but a
Government by the opinion and duress of small groups of dominant men." --
Woodrow Wilson



"It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. We
hold this prudent jealousy to be the first duty of citizens and one of
the noblest characteristics of the late Revolution. The freemen of
America did not wait till usurped power had strengthened itself by
exercise and entangled the question in precedents. They saw all the
consequences in the principle, and they avoided the consequences by
denying the principle. We revere this lesson too much ... to forget it."
-- James Madison




"We preserve our freedoms using four boxes: soap, ballot, jury, and
cartridge." -- Anonymous




Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface. -- Anonymous




"A sword never kills anybody; it's a tool in the killer's hand." --
Seneca (4 BC - 65 AD)

"All cruelty springs from weakness." -- Seneca (4 BC - 65 AD)

"As it is with a play, so it is with life -- what matters is not how long
the acting lasts, but how good it is. It is not important at what point
you stop. Stop wherever you will -- only make sure that you round it off
with a good ending." -- Seneca, Letters to Lucilius, 77



"Gun control laws don't work. What is worse, they act perversely. While
legitimate users of firearms encounter intense regulation, scrutiny and
bureaucratic control, illicit markets easily adapt to whatever
difficulties a free society throws in their way. Also, efforts to curtail
the supply of firearms inflict collateral damage on freedom and privacy
interests that have long been considered central to American public
life." -- Daniel Polsby, `The False Promise of Gun Control' -- The
Atlantic, March 1994




 Cicero 
  


"He that violates his oath profanes the Divinity of faith itself." --
Cicero (found on LA City Hall)


"The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced;
the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled.
Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't
want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living
on public assistance." -- Marcus Tullius Cicero, 55 BC


"Power and law are not synonymous. In truth they are frequently in
opposition and irreconcilable. There is God's Law from which all
Equitable laws of man emerge and by which men must live if they are not
to die in oppression, chaos and despair. Divorced from God's eternal and
immutable Law, established before the founding of the suns, man's power
is evil no matter the noble words with which it is employed or the
motives urged when enforcing it. Men of good will, mindful therefore of
the Law laid down by God, will oppose governments whose rule is by men,
and if they wish to survive as a nation they will destroy the government
which attempts to adjudicate by the whim of venal judges." -- Marcus
Tullius Cicero 106-43 B.C.




 US ARMY 



"Two of the gravest general dangers to survival are the desire for
comfort and a passive outlook." -- U.S. Army Ranger Handbook



"If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom,
and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values
more, it will lose that too." -- W. Somerset Maugham



"One fact stands out in bold relief in the history of man's attempts for
betterment. When compulsion is used only resentment is aroused, and the
end is not gained. Only through moral suasion and appeal to men's reason
can a movement succeed." -- Samuel Gompers



"Each of us has a natural right -- from God to defend his person, his
liberty, and his property. These are the three basic requirements of
life, and the preservation of any one of them is completely dependent
upon the preservation of the other two. For what are our faculties but
the extension of our individuality? And what is property but an extension
of our faculties?" -- Bastiat


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