 |
THOMAS JEFFERSON (Author of Declaration of Independence, member
Continental Congress, Governor of Virginia, Minister to France, Secretary of State, Vice
President, 3rd President )
 |
"On every question of construction (of the Constitution) let us carry ourselves back to the
time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and
instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform
to the probable one in which it was passed." 12 Jun 1823 (The Complete Jefferson
p.32) |
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"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." (Jefferson Papers, p.
334, C.J. Boyd, 1950) |
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"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
Papers p. 334, 1950) |
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"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." Letter to William S. Smith
13 Nov 1787 (Jefferson, On Democracy p. 20, 1939; Padover, editor) |
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"The few cases wherein these things (proposed Bill of Rights) may do evil, cannot be
weighed against the multitude where the want of them will do evil...I hope therefore a bill of
rights will be formed to guard the people against the federal government..." (letter to Madison 31
July 1788, The Papers of James Madison, Hobson & Rutland, p.11:212) |
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"I have a right to nothing which another has a right to take away." (letter to Uriah Forrest,
1787, Jefferson Papers, 12:477) |
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"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us
by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but
the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual." (letter to Isaac
Tifany, 1819) |
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GEORGE MASON (Virginia House of Burgesses, Virginia delegate to
Constitutional Convention, wrote Virginia Declaration of Rights, wrote "Objections to the
Constitution", urged creation of a Bill of Rights)
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"I ask, Who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public
officers." (Jonathan Elliot, The Debates of the Several State Conventions on the Adoption
of the Federal Constitution, [NY: Burt Franklin,1888] p.425-6) |
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"Forty years ago, when the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain,
the British Parliament was advised...to disarm the people; that it was the best and most effectual
way to enslave them; but that they should not do it openly, but weaken them, and let them sink
gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia..." (In Virginia's Ratifying Convention,
Elliot p.3:379-380) |
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"The militia may be here destroyed by that method which has been practiced in other parts
of the world before; that is, by rendering them useless - by disarming them." (Elliot, p.
3:379-80) |
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"I consider and fear the natural propensity of rulers to oppress the people. I
wish only to prevent
them from doing evil." (In Virginia's Ratifying Convention, Elliot p.3:381) |
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JOHN ADAMS (Signed Declaration of Independence, Continental Congress
delegate, 1st Vice President, 2nd President)
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"Arms in the hands of citizens (may) be used at individual discretion...in private
self-defense..." 1788(A Defense of the Constitution of the Government of the USA,
p.471) |
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JAMES MONROE (Served in Revolutionary Army,
member Continental Congress, Governor of Virginia, U.S. Secretary of State,
Secretary of War, 5th President)
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"But it ought always be held prominently in view that the safety of these States and of
everything dear to a free people must depend in an eminent degree on the militia." (his first
Inaugural Address, 1817) |
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SAM ADAMS (Signed Declaration of Independence, organized the Sons of
Liberty, participated in Boston Tea Party, Member of Continental Congress, Governor of
Massachusetts)
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"And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just
liberty of the press, or the right of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who
are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms; ...or to prevent the people from petitioning ,
in a peaceable and orderly manner; or to subject the people to unreasonable searches and seizures
of their persons, papers or possessions." (Debates of the Massachusetts Convention of
1788, p86-87) |
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JAMES MADISON (Drafted Virginia Constitution, Member of Continental
Congress, Virginia delegate to Constitutional Convention, named "Father of the Constitution",
author of Federalist Papers, author of the Bill of Rights, Congressman from Virginia, Secretary
of State, 4th President)
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"Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of
almost every other nation.. (where) ..the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms."
(Federalist Papers #46) |
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"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of
freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and
sudden usurpations." |
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"They [proposed Bill of Rights] relate 1st. to private rights....the great object in view is to
limit and qualify the powers of government..." 8 June 1789 (The Papers of James
Madison, Hobson & Rutland, 12:193, 204) |
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"To these (federal troops attempting to impose tyranny) would be opposed a militia
amounting to near half a million of citizens with arms in their hands." (Federalist Papers
#46) |
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RICHARD HENRY LEE (Signed Declaration of Independence, introduced
resolution in Continental Congress to become independent, proposed Bill of Rights from
beginning, author of Anti-Fed Papers, Congressman and Senator from Virginia)
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"A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves...and include all men
capable of bearing arms." 1788 (Federal Farmer, p.169) |
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"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..." 1788 (Federal Farmer) |
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"No
free government was ever founded, or ever preserved its liberty, without uniting the characters of
the citizen and soldier in those destined for the defense of the state... Such are a well regulated
militia, composed of the freeholders, citizens and husbandman, who take up arms to preserve
their property, as individuals, and their rights as freemen." |
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PATRICK HENRY ('Liberty or Death' Speech, member of Continental Congress, Governor of
Virginia, member Virginia convention to ratify U.S. Constitution,
urged creation of Bill of Rights for Constitution )
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"The great object is, that every man be armed.... Every one who is able may have a gun."
(Elliot p.3:386) |
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"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that
jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that
force, you are inevitably ruined." During Virginia Ratification Convention 1788 (Elliot
p.3:45) |
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"I am not well versed in history, but I will submit to your recollection, whether liberty has
been destroyed most often by the licentiousness of the people, or by the tyranny of rulers. I
imagine, sir, you will find the balance on the side of tyranny." (Elliot P.3:74) |
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"My great objection to this government is, that it does not leave us the means of defending
our rights, or of waging wars against tyrants." (Elliot, 3:47-48; in Virginia Ratifying
Convention, before Bill of Rights) |
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"O sir, we should have fine times, indeed, if, to
punish tyrants, it were only sufficient to assemble
the people! Your arms, wherewith you could defend yourselves, are gone..." (Elliot p.3:50-52,
in Virginia Ratifying Convention demanding a guarantee of the right to bear arms.) |
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BEN FRANKLIN (member, Continental Congress, signed Declaration of
Independence, attended Constitutional Convention, 1st Postmaster General)
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"Those who would give up essential Liberty to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve
neither Liberty nor Safety." (Respectfully Quoted, p. 201, Suzy Platt, Barnes
& Noble, 1993) |
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NOAH WEBSTER (Served in Revolutionary
Army, Printed dictionary; a federalist)
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"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every
kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword;
because the whole body of the people are armed...." (An Examination of the Leading
Principles of the Federal Constitution, Webster1787) |
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"A people can never be
deprived of their liberties, while they retain in their own hands, a power sufficient to any other
power in the
state." (Webster, p.42-43) |
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ALEXANDER HAMILTON (Member of Continental Congress, Aid-de-camp to
General Washington, commanded forces at Yorktown, New York delegate to the
Constitutional Convention, wrote Federalist Papers, 1st Secretary of Treasury for
George Washington, wanted 'President for life')
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"Little more can reasonably be aimed at with respect to the people at large than to have
them properly armed and equipped." (Federalist Papers #29) |
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TENCH
COXE (friend of Madison, member of Continental Congress)
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"Who are
the militia? Are they not ourselves. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords,
and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birth-right of an American...(T)he
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." (Freeman's
Journal, 20 Feb 1778) |
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"As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly
before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally
raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow-citizens, the
people are confirmed by the next article in their right to keep and bear their private arms."
(introduction to his discussion, and support, of the 2nd Amend) "Remarks on the First Part of
the Amendments to the Federal Constitution" Philadelphia Federal Gazette, 18
June 1789, pg.2 |
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"The militia, who are in fact the effective part of the people at large, ...will form a powerful
check upon the regular troops..." (Coxe, An Examination of the Constitution of the
United States of America p.20-21) |
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REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAMSON (member of the first Congress of the United
States)
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"The burden of the militia duty lies equally upon all persons;" in Congress, 22 Dec 1790
(Elliot, p423) |
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WILLIAM GRAYSON (Senator from
Virginia in first Congress under the United States Constitution)
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"Last Monday
a string of amendments were presented to the lower house; these altogether respect personal
liberty..." (in letter to Patrick Henry) |
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ZACHARIA JOHNSON (delegate to Virginia Ratifying Convention)
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"The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full possession of
them." (Elliot, 3:645-6) |
Founding Fathers on the Second
Amendment
Anti-gun/freedom/liberty Quotes
MORE QUOTES
Everyone on Liberty
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CAPTAIN JOHN PARKER (Commander, Lexington
Militia
Company)
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"Every man of you who is equipped, follow me..Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired
upon. But if they want to have a war, let it begin here." Lexington, MA, 19 April 1775, as
British troops approached on their march to Concord to implement gun control (Mine Eyes
Have Seen, Goldstein 1997 & Quotes for the Military Writer, U.S.
Army Command Information Unit, Library of HQ TRADOC) |
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GEORGE WASHINGTON
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"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous
servant and a fearful master." |
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"If in the opinion of the people the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers
be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the
Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this in one instance
may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are
destroyed." (farewell address) |
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"A free people ought not only to be armed but
disciplined..." (Papers of the President, p.65, Richardson, ed) |
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THOMAS JEFFERSON
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"Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish
like evil spirits at the dawn of day." (Letter to Du Pont de Nemours 24 April 1816) |
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"When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the
government, there is tyranny." |
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SAMUEL ADAMS
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"If ye love wealth more than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude greater than the animating
contest for freedom, go home and leave us in peace. We seek not your council, nor your arms.
Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may your chains set lightly upon you, and
posterity forget that ye were our country men." 1776 |
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"The liberties of our country,
the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to
defend
them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors:
they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and
transmitted to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the
present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by
violence without a struggle, or be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing
men." |
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PATRICK HENRY
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"Millions of people armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which
we possess, are invincible. ...The battle, is not to the strong alone; it is the vigilant, the active, the
brave. ...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." Excerpts of speech made before the Virginia House of Burgesses, 1775 |
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"Are we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be
trusted with arms for our own defense?.... 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 use, as in our own
hands?" (3 Elliot, p. 168-9) |
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THOMAS PAINE (Author: Common
Sense & The Rights of Man, urged Declaration of Independence)
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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of
supporting it." |
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"...arms like laws discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in
awe...Horrid mischief would ensue were the good deprived of the use of them." |
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DANIEL WEBSTER (Representative and Senator from New Hampshire, U.S.
Secretary of State
)
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"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption for authority. It is hardly too
strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good
intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They
promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters." |
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REPRESENTATIVE JOHN RANDOLPH
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"A people who mean to continue free must be prepared to meet danger in person..." (22
Dec 1790, Elliot p.4:411) |
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LUTHER MARTIN (Member Continental Congress,
Maryland
delegate to the Constitutional Convention)
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"...the whole history of mankind proves that so far from parting with the powers actually
delegated to it, government is constantly encroaching on the small pittance of rights reserved by
the people to themselves and gradually wrestling them out of their hands..." (The
Maryland Journal, 28 March 1788) |
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WILLIAM PITT
|
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"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of
tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." Speech to House of Commons, 1787 |
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EDMUND BURKE
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"Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he could only do a
little." |
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"The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion." 1784 |
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ANDREW JACKSON (Served in Revolutionary Army,
Senator,
Major General US Army, 17th President)
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"...but a million armed freemen, possessed of the means of war, can never be conquered by
a foreign foe." his first Inaugural Address, 1829 (total popular vote for his election was just over
one million) |
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ARISTOTLE
|
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"Both Oligarch and Tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of arms."
(Politics, Aristotle p. 218) |
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ABRAHAM LINCOLN
|
|
"The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts,
not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." (17
September 1859, speech in Cincinnati, OH) |
|
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"To sin by silence when they should
protest makes cowards out of men." |
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WILLIAM RAWLE (U.S. Attorney for Pennsylvania, appointed by President
Washington)
|
|
"No clause in the Constitution could by any rule of construction be conceived to give to
congress a power to disarm the people." (Rawle, A View of the Constitution, p.
125-6, 1829) |
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ALBERT EINSTEIN
|
|
"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 constitutional
rights secure." |
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HUBERT H. HUMPHREY (Senator, Vice
President)
|
|
"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 always possible." (22 October 1959) |
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WINSTON CHURCHILL
|
|
"If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will
not fight when your victory will be sure and not so costly, you may come to the moment when
you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival.
There may be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no chance of victory, because it
is better to perish than to live as slaves." |
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REVEREND MARTIN NIEMOLLER (arrested by the Gestapo in 1937)
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"In Germany, they first came for the communist, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a
communist. Then, they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew...Then
they came for the Catholics. I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for
me, and there was no one left to speak up." |
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FREDERICK DOUGLASS (U.S. Marshal, son of a slave)
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"Find
out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and
wrong which will be imposed upon them; ...The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance
of those whom they oppress." 1857 |
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DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
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"A right delayed is a right denied." |
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JOSEPH STORY (Supreme Court Justice)
|
|
"The militia is the natural defense of a free country against sudden foreign invasions,
domestic insurrections, and domestic usurpation of power by rulers. The right of the citizens to
keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of the republic;
since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will
generally...enable the people to resist and triumph over them." (Story, Commentaries on
the Constitution of the United States, p.3:746-7, 1833) |
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WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT (27th President, Chief Justice US Supreme
Court)
|
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"Constitutions are checks upon the hasty action of the majority. They are self imposed
restraints of a whole people upon a majority of them to secure sober action and a respect for the
rights of the minority." (22 August 1911) |
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WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS (Supreme Court Justice
1939-75)
|
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"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a
twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such a twilight that we all
must be most aware of change in the air-- however slight-- lest we become the unwitting victims
of the darkness." |
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"Fear of assassination often produces restraints compatible with dictatorship, not
democracy." |
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HUGO BLACK (Supreme Court Justice, U.S. Senator)
|
|
"I cannot
agree with those who think of the Bill of Rights as an 18th century straitjacket, unsuited for this
age...The evils it guards against are not only old, they are with us now, they exist today."
(The Great Rights, Cahn '63, p 44-45) |
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GEORGE SUTHERLAND (Supreme Court Justice)
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"For the saddest epitaph which can be carved in memory of a vanished freedom is that it
was lost because its possessors failed to stretch forth a saving hand while there was still
time." |
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LOUIS BRANDEIS (Supreme Court Justice)
|
|
"Those who won our independence by revolution were not cowards. They did not fear
political change. They did not exalt order at the cost of liberty." (Whitney v. California,
1927) |
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"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the
government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion
of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious
encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding." (Olmstead v. United
States, 1928) |
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ANTONIN SCALIA (Supreme Court Justice)
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"It would 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 . There
is no need to deceive ourselves as to what the original Second Amendment said and meant."
A Matter of Interpretation: Federal Courts and the Law, Princeton University
Press |
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"[T]hey [the Founders] feared that some future generation might wish to abandon liberties
that they considered essential, and so sought to protect those liberties in a Bill of Rights."
A Matter of Interpretation |
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"The Constitution Protects us from our own
best intentions." (U.S. v. Printz, 1977) |
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CLARENCE THOMAS (Supreme Court Justice)
|
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"The Second Amendment similarly appears to contain an express limitation on the
government's authority. If the Second Amendment is read to confer a personal right to 'keep and
bear arms,' a colorable argument exists that the Federal Government's regulatory scheme, at least
as it pertains to possession of firearms, runs afoul of that amendment's protections" (U.S.
v. Printz, 1997) |
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EARL WARREN (former Supreme Court Chief
Justice)
|
|
"Today, as always, the people, no less than the courts, must remain vigilant to preserve the
principals of our Bill of Rights, lest in our desire to be secure we lose our ability to be free."
(James Madison Lecture, NY University, 1962) |
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DAVID KOPEL (Civil Rights Attorney)
|
|
"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." |
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REBECCA WYATT (Founder of Safety for Women and Responsible
Motherhood, Inc.)
|
|
"The advice on self-defense that I received after [my] assault was 'Don't get a gun. It will
only add to the violence.' Never having been exposed to guns before, this seemed to make sense
-- until I was attacked again." |
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SHERIFF RICHARD MACK (Sheriff
of Graham County, AZ; filed suit challenging Constitutionality of the Brady Law)
|
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"...the only background check I'd support is one on politicians." |
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LIEUTENANT LOWELL DUCKETT (Pres., Black Police Caucus, Special
Assistant to Washington, D.C. Police Chief)
|
|
"Gun control has not worked in D.C. The only people who have guns are criminals. We
have the strictest gun laws in the nation and one of the highest murder rates. It's quicker to pull
your Smith and Wesson than to dial 911 if you're being robbed." The Washington
Post |
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MAHATMA GANDHI
|
|
"Among the many misdeeds of British rule in India, history will look upon the Act
depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest." (My Autobiography, p.
446) |
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TENCH COXE
|
|
"What should we think of a gentleman, who, upon hiring a waiting-man, should say to him
'my friend, please take notice, before we come together, that I shall always claim the liberty of
eating when and what I please, of fishing and hunting upon my own ground, of keeping as many
horses and hounds as I can maintain, and of speaking and writing any sentiments upon all
subjects.' (A) master reserves to himself...every thing else which he has not committed to the
care of those servants." [editor's translation: Bill of Rights not needed; repetitive] |
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CESARE BECCARIA
|
|
"False is the idea of utility that sacrifices a thousand real advantages for one imaginary or
trifling inconvenience; that would take fire from men because it burns, and water because one
may drown in it; ...The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They
disarm those only who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Can it be supposed
that those who have the courage to violate the most sacred laws of humanity, the most important
of the code, will respect the less important and arbitrary ones, which can be violated with ease
and impunity, and which, if strictly obeyed, would put an end to personal liberty -- so dear to
men, ...and subject innocent persons to all the vexations that the guilty alone ought to suffer?
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. They ought to be designated as laws not preventive but fearful of
crimes, produced by the tumultuous impression of a few isolated facts, and not by thoughtful
consideration of the inconveniences and advantages of a universal decree." On Crime and
Punishment, p.145 (1819) originally published in 1764 |
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JAMES
BURGH (18th Century English Libertarian
writer)
|
|
"...most attractive to Americans, the possession of arms is the distinction between a freeman
and a slave, it being the ultimate means by which freedom was to be preserved." (Shalhope,
The Ideological Origins of the Second Amendment, p.604) |
|
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DR. SUZANNE GRATIA (Texas State
Representative)
|
|
"I blame the deaths of my parents on those legislators who deny me my right to defend
myself." (Both her parents and 20 others were killed by a mad man in the Luby's Cafeteria in
Killeen, TX, 1991. TX law prevented her from carrying her handgun into the restaurant, so she
left it in the car) |
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UNKNOWN
|
|
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of
moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who
has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares about more than his own 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." |
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THE TALMUD
|
|
"Who can protest an injustice but does not is an accomplice in the act." |
|
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EDWARD ABBEY
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"The tank, the B-52, the fighter-bomber, the state controlled police 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." |
Founding Fathers on the Second
Amendment
Quotes on Freedom and Liberty
OTHER QUOTES
Those who disagree with the previous quotes
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BRITISH MAJOR JOHN PITCAIRN (Commander of Advance Guard of British
forces marching to
Concord, MA)
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"Disperse you rebels; damn you, throw down your arms and disperse." (order to American
militiamen at Lexington, 1775) |
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BILL CLINTON (President of the United States)
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"We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans to
legitimately own handguns and rifles...that we are unable to think about reality." (USA
Today, 11 March 93, pg. 2A) |
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"The last time I checked, the Constitution said
'of the people, by the people and for the people'. That's what the Declaration of Independence
says." Reuters News Agency ([Editor's note: actually those words are in neither of
those documents, but part of The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln] |
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"I don't think the American people are there right now. But with more than 200 million
guns in circulation, we've got so much more to do on this issue before we even reach that. I don't
think that's an option now. But there are certain kinds of guns that can be banned and a lot of
other reasonable regulations that can be imposed." when asked of the possibility of a federal law
banning handguns, interview in Rolling Stone magazine, 9 Dec 93, pg. 45 |
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"We've banned these guns ['assault' weapons] because you don't need an Uzi to go deer
hunting, and everyone knows it." Weekly radio address, 15 Nov 97, the Roosevelt Room, the
White House |
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JOSE CERDA (White House official)
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"We are taking the law and bending it as far as we can to capture a whole new class of guns
[to ban]" (Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct 97, Mr. Cerda was named as a "White
House official who specializes in gun control.") |
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RONNIE EDLEMAN (Department of Justice, Clinton Administration)
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"The current state of federal law does not recognize that the Second Amendment protects
the right of private citizens to possess firearms of any type. Instead, the Second Amendment is
deemed to be a collective right belonging to the state and not to an individual. Accordingly, the
Second Amendment is interpreted by this administration as prohibiting the federal government
from preventing a state government from forming or having a state recognized militia force.
With this understanding in mind, the source of citizens' authority to possess a handgun has never
been particularly identified in American law." In a letter written on behalf of President
Clinton |
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JANET RENO (U.S. Attorney General)
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"Gun registration is not enough." (Associated Press 10 Dec 93) |
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"I've always
proposed state licensing...with some federal standards." (ABC's "Good Morning America" 10
Dec 93) |
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"[Assault weapons] are used on school yards, at airports, in bank lobbies, on trains, in traffic
and in front of the White House. They have no legitimate sporting purpose, and you won't find
them in a duck blind or at the Olympics." (The Washington Times, 22 March 96,
A4) |
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"What we have got to do is make sure that before a person possesses a gun, they have
exhibited by test that they know how to safely and lawfully use the weapon and by experience
that they are capable of doing that." (Associated Press, 29 Mar 99) |
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JOYCELYN ELDERS (Former U.S. Surgeon General) ...on gun ownership
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"I want to make it as hard as possible. Gun owners would have to be evaluated by how they
scored on written and firing tests, and have to pass the tests in order to own a gun. And I would
tax the guns, bullets and the license itself very heavily." (Mother Jones magazine,
Jan/Feb '94) |
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FIDEL CASTRO
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"Armas para que?" ("Guns, for what?") (response to a Cuban citizens who said the people
might need to keep their guns, after Castro announced strict gun control in Cuba) |
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JOSEPH McNAMARA (Police Chief, San Jose, CA)
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"I have
made it considerably tougher for residents to get handgun permits." (in his book Safe and
Sane, 1984) |
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DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN (U.S. Senator)
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"...we could tax them [firearms] out of existence." (Washington Post 4 Nov
93) |
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MAJOR OWENS (U.S. Congressman)
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"My bill...establishes a 6-month grace period for the turning in of handguns."
(Congressional Record 10 Nov 93) |
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"The second article of amendment (Second Amendment) to the Constitution of the United
States is repealed." (U.S. House Joint Resolution 438 introduced 11 March 1992 by
Congressman Owens, D-NY) |
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DIANE FEINSTEIN (California
Senator, author of
"Feinstein
Amendment" which became the '94 gun ban)
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"If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban,
picking up every one of them 'Mr. and Mrs. America, turn 'em all in,' I would have done it."
(60 Minutes episode, CBS) [Sen Feinstein holds a CCP] |
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MEL REYNOLDS (U.S. Congressman)
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"If it were up to me, we'd ban them all [firearms]." (CNN Crossfire 9 Dec
93) |
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PATRICK KENNEDY (U.S. Congressman, R.I.)
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"Kennedy said he favors an outright ban on handguns, but doubts its palatability in the
current political climate." (Providence Journal, 4 Jan 99) |
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NELSON T. (PETE) SHIELDS III (Founder, Handgun
Control,
Inc./National Council to Control Handguns)
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"We're going to have to take this one step at a time, and the first step is necessarily - given
the political realities - going to be very modest. Right now, though, we'd be satisfied not with
half a loaf but with a slice. Our ultimate goal - total control of all guns - is going to take
time.....The final problem is to make the possession of all handguns and all handgun ammunition
- except for the military, policemen, licensed security guards, licensed sporting clubs and
licensed gun collectors - totally illegal." (New Yorker Magazine, p.57-58, 26 Jul
76) |
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SARAH BRADY (Chairman, Handgun Control, Inc.)
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"There is
no personal right to be armed for private purposes unrelated to the service in a well regulated
militia." (Richmond Times-Dispatch, 6 June 97, pg. 6) |
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"We have a
tremendous opportunity to take a giant leap forward in our fight to require gun licensing in this
country if Initiative 676 succeeds, there's no question but that we will have created enormous
momentum for a national gun licensing law." (HCI fund-raising letter, Oct 97, speaking of
Initiative 676 in WA) |
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"I don't believe gun owners have rights. The Second
Amendment has never been interpreted that way and every court case that's ever come down has
shown that." ("Guns in America: Part III", Hearst Newspaper 1997, By Holly Yeager) |
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JOSH SUGARMANN (Executive Director, Violence Policy Center; former
Communications Director of the National Coalition to Ban Handguns)
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"To end
the crisis [of gun violence], we have to regulate -or, in the case of handguns and assault weapons,
completely ban -the product. We are far past the [point] where registration, licensing, safety
training, background checks, or waiting periods will have much effect on firearms violence."
(Mother Jones Magazine, Jan/Feb 94, article titled "Reverse Fire") |
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"Under such a plan (proposed by Sugarmann, where ATF would have total say on legality
of guns) would result in an immediate ban on the future production and sale of handguns and
assault weapons" (Mother Jones Magazine, Jan/Feb 94, article titled "Reverse
Fire") |
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"the semiautomatic weapons' menacing looks, coupled with the public's confusion ..[that]
anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun - can only increase the
chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons." ("Assault Weapons and Accessories
in America" [Washington, DC Education Fund to End Handgun Violence and New Right
Watch] Sep 88, p. 26) |
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SUSAN GLICK (Spokesperson for the Violence Policy Center)
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"We endorse a handgun ban. I will tell you that right now. We absolutely endorse that ban
and we are absolutely vocal about it." [answering: "What is your ultimate goal?"] (Talk Show
Front Page on WVLK AM 590, Lexington, KY, 3 Dec 97) |
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DR. ARTHUR KELLERMAN (Published 1986 "study"
discouraging people from using guns for self defense)
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"If you've got to resist
[an attacker], your chances of being hurt are less the more lethal your weapon. If that were my
wife, would I want her to have a .38 Special in her hand? Yeah." (Health magazine, Mar/Apr 94
) |
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MICHAEL GARTNER ( President NBC
News)
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"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." (USA Today 16 Jan 92) |
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USA Today Newspaper Articles
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"We will
never fully solve our nation's horrific problem of gun violence unless we ban the manufacture
and sale of handguns and semi-automatic assault weapons." 29 Dec 93 |
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"A bill requiring all handguns to be given to the government will be introduced Tuesday by
Sen. John Chafee." 1 Jun 92 |
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LOS ANGELAS TIMES Newspaper Article
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"Why should America adopt a policy of near-zero tolerance for private gun
ownership?...who can still argue compellingly that Americans can be trusted to handle guns
safely? We think the time has come for Americans to tell the truth about guns. They are not for
us, we cannot handle them." 28 Dec 93 |
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CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER (Syndicated
columnist)
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"The claim of the advocates that banning these 19 types of 'assault weapons' will reduce the
crime rate is laughable...Ultimately, a civilized society must disarm its citizenry if it is to have a
modicum of domestic tranquillity...Passing a law like the assault weapons ban is a symbolic --
purely symbolic move in that direction. Its only real justification is not to reduce crime but to
desensitize the public to the regulation of weapons in preparation for their ultimate
confiscation...De-escalation begins with a change in mentality. And that change in mentality
starts with the symbolic yielding of certain types of weapons. The real steps, like the banning of
handguns, will never occur unless this one is taken first, and even then not for decades.
(The Washington Post, 5 April 1996) |
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WILLIAM GREIDER (writer, Rolling Stone magazine)
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"The plain fact is that the United States is now hostage to a harrowing epidemic of gun
violence, and the Brady bill won't do much to change that. The National Rifle Association has
been saying this all along, and the NRA is right. The NRA has also argued that a waiting period
won't prevent criminals from getting guns. And it's right about that, too. Enactment of the Brady
bill will, however, represent a victory of some political significance - a visible defeat for the
tenacious lobbying power of the NRA. Thus the limited scope of the Brady bill was justified as a
necessary first step toward breaking the NRA's power - a way to demonstrate that politicians
could support a moderate version of control and survive." (Rolling Stone, article
entitled: "A Pistol-whipped Nation - Pass the Brady Bill - then ban handguns", 30 Sep 93, pg.
31) |
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CHARLES MORGAN (Director, American Civil Liberties Union, Washington,
D.C. office)
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"I have not one doubt, even if I am in agreement with the National Rifle Association, that
that kind of record keeping procedure (gun registration) is the first step to eventual confiscation
under one administration or another" in a 1975 hearing before the House Subcommittee on
Crime |
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CARL ROWAN (Washington, DC Syndicated
Columnist)
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"We must reverse this psychology (of needing guns for home defense). We can do it by
passing a law that says anyone found in possession of a handgun except a legitimate officer of
the law goes to jail- period! (1981 article) |
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"as long as authorities leave this society
awash in drugs and guns, I will protect my family." (1988 article titled "At Least They're Not
Writing My Obituary", after shooting an unarmed trespasser with an unregistered handgun) |
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DR. JOYCE BROTHERS (Psychiatrist, TV
personality)
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"Men possess handguns in order to compensate for sexual dysfunction." [her husband is
among NYC elite that has been issued a permit to carry a concealed handgun] |
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SYLVESTER STALLONE (Actor)
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"The only way to make America safe: go house to house and confiscate every gun."
(Access Hollywood, 8 June 98) |
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MIKE SEELY (Spokesman for Washington Citizens for Handgun Safety, gun
control lobby group
pushing I-676, a gun licensing law)
|
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"Their movement [2nd Amendment supporters] is so well grounded in the
Constitution, it's 200 years old. Our movement is probably 20 years from reaching its peak."
(Reuters) |
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"Maybe we brought out the extremist vote with this one." (The News Tribune, Tacoma,
WA 6 Nov 97, after their ballot measure requiring gun licenses was defeated 71% - 29%) |
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NAZI LAW (Regulations Against Jews' Possession of Weapons, 11 Nov 1938,
German Minister of
the Interior)
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"Those now possessing weapons and ammunition are at once to turn them over to the local
police authority. Firearms and ammunition found in a Jew's possession will be forfeited to the
government without compensation Whoever willfully or negligently violates the provisions will
be punished with imprisonment and a fine." |
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