Words From The Wise To The Wise - Gun Rights Quotes

[Squishy 1,149]

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." - United States Constitution, Amendment II Bill of Rights

 

"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 (1743-1826)

 

"The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed" - Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) letter to Justice John Cartwright, June 5, 1824

 

"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." - Texas Court Decision - Cockrum v. State, 24 Tex. 394, at 401-402 (1859)

 

"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 (1809-1865)

 

"The framers gave us the Second Amendment not so we could go deer or duck hunting but to give us a modicum of protection against congressional tyranny." - Walter E. Williams (b. 1936)

 

"That is why our masters in Washington are so anxious to disarm us. They are not afraid of criminals. They are afraid of a populace which cannot be subdued by tyrants." - Jeff Cooper

 

"After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military." - William S. Burroughs

 

"Gun Control is not about guns, it's about control." - Anonymous

 

"The maintenance of the right to bear arms is a most essential one to every free people and should not be whittled down by technical constructions." - North Carolina Court Decision - State vs. Kerner

 

"By calling attention to 'a well regulated militia,' 'the security of the nation,' and the right of each citizen 'to keep and bear arms,' our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy... The Second Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country.

For that reason I believe the Second Amendment will always be important." - John F. Kennedy

 

"Nowhere else in the Constitution does a 'right' attributed to 'the people' refer to anything other than an individual right. What is more, in all six other provisions of the Constitution that mention 'the people,' the term unambiguously refers to all members of the political community, not an unspecified subset... The Second Amendment extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms... The very text of the Second Amendment implicitly recognizes the pre-existence of the right and declares only that it 'shall not be infringed." - Justice Antonin Scalia - District of Columbia v. Heller, June 26, 2008

 

"The nation's murder rate is near a 40 year low and the number of privately owned guns in the U.S. is at an all-time high and rising by about 4.5 million annually. Right-to-Carry states had lower violent crime rates on the average than the rest of the country. Total violent crime in Right-to-Carry States was 24% lower; murder 28% lower; robbery 50% lower and aggravated assault 11% lower. The cities with the highest murder rates were cities with severe gun control." - FBI Crime Report 2007

 

"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." - Plato (428 B.C. to 348)

 

"The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases." - Thomas Jefferson

 

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes...Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." - Cesare Beccaria (1735-1794) quoted in Jefferson's "Commonplace Book," 1774-1776

 

"Laws can't control the lawless." - Wayne LaPierre

 

"This battle for 'common-sense' gun control laws pits emotion and passion against logic and reason. All too often in such a contest, logic loses. So, expect more meaningless, if not harmful, 'gun control' legislation. Good news - if you're a crook." - Larry Elder

 

"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..." - Stephen P. Holbrook

 

"Just as the First and Fourth Amendment secure individual rights of speech and security respectively, the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. This view of the text comports with the all but unanimous understanding of the Founding Fathers." - John Ashcroft

 

"The provision 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. The exercise of a right guaranteed by the Constitution cannot be made subject to the will of the sheriff." - Michigan Court Decision - People vs. Zerillo, 219 Mich. 635,... 1922

 

"The Second Amendment is not about duck hunting, and I know I'm not going to make very many friends saying this, but it's about our right, all of our right to be able to protect ourselves from all of you guys [politicians] up there." - Suzanna Gratia Hupp (b. 1959) Testimony before Congress about the Assault Weapons Ban

 

"The usual road to slavery is that first they take away your guns, then they take away your property, then last of all they tell you to shut up and say you are enjoying it." - James A. Donald

 

"No matter how many speeches a politician gives in favor of gun control, it's a safe bet that his own bodyguards are still packing heat. Even if he's giving a speech at a school or post office or other gun-free zone. The Secret Service and other professional-bodyguard types apparently don't trust the ability of "No guns allowed" signs to keep shooters from hitting their targets. That's the difference

between public servants and the public they serve. Our servants' lives are considered much too valuable to risk in a gun-free zone." - Jennifer Abel - "Who has advantage in a gun-free zone?" Middletown Press (My notation, the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado was a "Gun Free" Zone.)

 

"The ruling class doesn't care about public safety. Having made it very difficult for States and localities to police themselves, having left ordinary citizens with no choice but to protect themselves as best they can, they now try to take our guns away. In fact they blame us and our guns for crime. This is so wrong that it cannot be an honest mistake." - U.S. Sen. Malcolm Wallop

 

"Expecting a carjacker or rapist or drug pusher to care that his possession or use of a gun is unlawful is like expecting a terrorist to care that his car bomb is taking up two parking spaces." - Joseph T. Chew - Usenet posting in talk.politics.guns

 

"Laws do not prevent any serious crimes, because serious criminals do not obey laws in the first place! Every nasty criminal activity possible is already prohibited by law, so there's really no further way to legislatively affect the criminal. (Some psychiatrists explain insanity this way: repeating an action over and over again with the expectation of different results. Restrictive laws relating to peaceful American gunowners have never reduced crime, yet with each new law a "different result" of crime reduction is anticipated. Sounds crazy to me!)" - Boston T. Party - Boston's Gun Bible, p. 32/30

 

"One correspondent, who is into psychology, notes that in his experience people who are hoplophobes are nearly always nutty in other ways, too. Hoplophobia [fear of guns], of course, is not simply an attitude but rather an aberration in which the sufferer clings to an idea which he himself knows to be unsound, such as the idea that inanimate instruments have a will of their own or that lawbreakers abide by the law." - Jeff Cooper (1920-2006) - Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Nine, No 7. 35/73

 

 

"They will never outlaw all of your guns at once. But every 'reasonable' control they can impose without your resistance gives them one more bit of leverage to make gun ownership for you and your children and your grandchildren as difficult as possible." - David Kopel

 

"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any bands of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States." - Noah Webster, 1888 - "An Examination into...the Federal Constitution" 1787

 

"Our right to keep and bear arms - personally - is the essential element of political liberty, without which we would stand as mere slaves of any current administration, as do most of the people in the world today. We treasure our right to be armed, not only as defense against tyrants, but also as defense against evil men acting alone.

 

Our right to defend ourselves against felons by force of arms protects not only our liberty but also - and this is often overlooked - our dignity. Dignity is a word not often used in the Age of the Wimp, for by definition a wimp has no dignity. But dignity remains not only desirable but essential to persons of consequence. This concept is rejected by the socialist, who feels that dignity resides solely in the state. But we Americans are not socialists (at least most of us are not) and we prize our unique status in world society." - Jeff Cooper - Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Nine, No. 7 34/73

 

"Crime is a human behavior problem, not a mechanical problem. Furthermore, if firearms were not very useful for self-defense, then police wouldn't carry them. In a free country, if the government can go armed, so should the citizens, if they so choose." - Charley Reese

 

"Firearms have been around for over 400 years, yet it is only in the last 20 years that people have begun shouting "gun control". Why then, only recently, has this become such an issue? Moreover, why are there more mass-murderers than at any other time in our known history?

 

It is not because weapons are more powerful - 200-year-old muzzleloaders have a much greater force-per-round than today's "assault rifles". It is not because weapons are semi- or fully-automatic - rapid-fire weapons have been available for mostof the last century. It is not due to a lack of laws - we have more "gun control" laws than ever. It IS, however, because we have chosen to focus on "gun control" instead of crime control or "thug control."

 

It IS because only recently has the public become complacent enough to accept, by inaction, the violence present in our society." - Kevin Langston

 

"But to ban guns because criminals use them is to tell the innocent and law-abiding that their rights and liberties depend not on their own conduct, but on the conduct of the guilty and the lawless, and that the law will permit them to have only such rights and liberties as the lawless will allow. ... For society does not control crime, ever, by forcing the law-abiding to accommodate themselves to the expected behavior of criminals. Society controls crime by forcing the criminals to accommodate themselves to the expected behavior of the law-abiding." - Jeff Snyder - Washington Times, August 25, 1994

 

"A government that intended to protect the liberty of the people would not disarm them. A government planning the opposite most certainly and logically would disarm them. And so it has been in this century. Check out the history of Germany, the Soviet Union, Cuba, China and Cambodia." - Charlie Reese

 

"It would also be strange to find in the midst of a catalog of the rights of individuals a provision securing to the states the right to maintain a designated "Militia." Dispassionate scholarship suggests quite strongly that the right of the people to keep and bear arms meant just that." - Justice Antonin Scalia - A Matter of Interpretation: Federal Courts and the Law

 

"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." - Georgia Court Decision - Nunn vs. State, 1 Ga. (1 Kel.) 243, at 251 (1846)

 

"When a commissioned officer takes the oath, he swears "To support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies foreign and domestic." We know about these foreign enemies of the US Constitution, but who are the "domestics"? For my money the most conspicuous domestic enemy whom I have sworn to confound is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

 

It is not clear to me that the BATF does anything that needs doing. Contrarily, it does a great deal that does not need doing. I do not know how many people are currently employed by this unpleasant agency, but I do feel it to be my duty to support the US Constitution against domestic enemies by advocating abolition of the BATF. I have been told by people in Washington that when I make statements like this, I am laying my head on the block. So be it. Better men than I have done just that." - Jeff Cooper (1920-2006) - Jeff Cooper's Commentaries - Volume Five

 

"As I have stood in the crosshairs of those who target Second Amendment freedoms, I've realized that firearms are not the only issue. No, it's much, much bigger than that. I've come to understand that a cultural war is raging across our land, in which, with Orwellian fervor, certain acceptable thoughts and speech are mandated." - Charlton Heston

 

"Registration today always leads to confiscation later. "We're only asking for registration today because we want to be able to trace a gun back to its rightful owner," they claim. That's what the City of New York told it's residents years ago. That's what Great Britain and Australia told their citizens years ago. And in all those places the government went back on its word and banned guns...Naturally compliance has not been 100%, so the government threatens holdouts with 4 years in prison and $100,000 fines. It then uses the registration lists to go house-to-house and forcibly steal private property....leaving the people defenseless against the new violent crimes that predictably followed." - Boston T. Party - Boston's' Gun Bible p. 32/32

 

"The National Firearms Act fit in perfectly with the systematic creation of government programs and deficit spending that Franklin Roosevelt immediately began to institute the instant he took office. The NFA was a model vehicle for the continued expansion of government power: It was arbitrary (i.e. the 18-inch rule); it gave the government sweeping authority over something very common; it

focused on inanimate objects rather than criminal behavior; it levied draconian taxes on these objects; and most importantly, it created millions of criminals with the stroke of a pen, just as Prohibition had." - John Ross - "Unintended Consequences," 1991 by Accurate Press

 

"Gun Control? It's the best thing you can do for crooks and gangsters. I want you to have nothing. If I'm a bad guy, I'm always gonna have a gun. Safety Locks? You will pull the trigger with a lock on, and I'll pull the trigger. We'll see who wins." - Sammy "the Bull" Gravano - Asked about Gun Control in an interview in Vanity Fair

 

"If those states which did not have right-to-carry concealed gun provisions had adopted them in 1992, approximately 1,570 murders; 4,177 rapes; and over 60,000 aggravate assaults would have been avoided yearly." - Professor John Lott - http://deepwaterweb.com/gunstudy.htm

 

 

"The history of liberty is a history of limitation of government power, not the increase of it." - Woodrow Wilson

___________________

 

Please feel free to add your favorites

[socom688 217]

I just book marked this page. Plenty of ammo here for me if I ever get into a discussion with a gun-control activist...

[thebuns1 4,323]

thanks for taking the time to post all these.

[Squishy 1,149]

More quotes relevant to current events;

 

"And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs - politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that continue to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts. Political posturing and restrictive legislation are not the answers." - Darrell Scott - Subcommittee on Crime House Judiciary, may 27, 1999

 

"Gun Control helps massacres to succeed. Analyzing history's mass murders for common criteria has proven very illuminating. There is a formula, and it is nearly 100% accurate.

 

It is this:

Person with evil intent to kill many people

+ Any deadly weapon

+ Guarantee that the intended victims can't fight back

+ Expectation that police won't prevent killing

= Mass murder

 

...The "gun free school zones" are places where mass murderers know they won't be resisted. Conversely they don't go to gun shows, police stations....Disarming ordinary Americans isn't the answer - it is the problem! (Declaw your housecat and see how long she lasts in the wild.)" - Boston T. Party - Boston's Gun Bible, p. 32/40

 

"In a comprehensive study of all public multiple shooting incidents in America between 1977 and 1999, economists John Lott and Bill Landes found that the only public policy that reduced both the incidence and casualties of such shootings were concealed-carry laws. Not only are there 60 percent fewer gun massacres after states adopt concealed-carry laws, but the death and injury rate of such rampages are reduced by 80 percent." - Ann Coulter - AnnCoulter.com, 1/28/09

 

" ...All three attacks took place in areas where gun possession by those who did the attack as well as civilians generally was already banned - so-called "gun-free safe zones." Suppose you or your family are being stalked by a criminal who intends on harming you. Would you feel safer putting a sign in front of your home saying "This Home is a Gun-Free Zone"? It is pretty obvious why we don't put these signs up. As with many other gun laws, law-abiding citizens, not would-be criminals, would obey the sign. Instead of creating a safe zone for victims, it leaves victims defenseless and creates a safe zone for those intent on causing harm." - John R. Lott Jr. - Disarming Facts, March 23, 2005, NRO

 

"Have you ever heard of a mass shooting in a police station, at a pistol range, or at a gun show? Suicidal mass murderers may be insane, but they are not necessarily stupid. They always select a soft target for their final acts of violence. This principle also applies to many other types of crime." - Michael S. Brown - The Tragedy of Gun Free Zones

[VR762Shooter 838]

I just book marked this page. Plenty of ammo here for me if I ever get into a discussion with a gun-control activist...

 

Same here. Can never have too much mental ammunition when its to use against the gun grabbers