"A free people ought to be armed."
- George Washington
"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they
should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of
independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would
include their own government."
- George Washington
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
- Thomas Jefferson
"I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery."
- Thomas Jefferson
"The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature.
They 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."
- Thomas Jefferson (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria)
"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 your
constant companion of your walks." - Thomas Jefferson
"The Constitution 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."
- Thomas Jefferson
"On every occasion [of Constitutional interpretation] let us carry
ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect
the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying [to force]
what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it,
[instead let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed."
- Thomas Jefferson
"I enclose you a list of the killed, wounded, and captives of the
enemy from the commencement of hostilities at Lexington in April, 1775,
until November, 1777, since which there has been no event of any
consequence ... I think that upon the whole it has been about one half
the number lost by them, in some instances more, but in others less.
This difference is ascribed to our superiority in taking aim when we
fire; every soldier in our army having been intimate with his gun from
his infancy."
- Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Giovanni Fabbroni, June 8, 1778
"Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion in private self defense."
- John Adams
"To disarm the people is the most effectual way to enslave them."
- George Mason
"I ask sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few politicians."
- George Mason (father of the Bill of Rights and The Virginia Declaration of Rights)
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe."
- Noah Webster
"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 band of regular troops."
- Noah Webster
"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
"Americans have the right and advantage of being armed, unlike the
people of other countries, whose leaders are afraid to trust them with
arms."
- James Madison
"The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be
infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people,
trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free
country."
- James Madison
"The ultimate authority resides in the people alone."
- James Madison
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
- William Pitt
"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
"A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves ... and include all men capable of bearing arms."
- Richard Henry Lee
"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 ruined.... The
great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might
have a gun."
- Patrick Henry
"This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty.... 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
limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and 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
"... arms ... discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe,
and preserve order in the world as well as property.... Horrid mischief
would ensue were (the law-abiding) deprived the use of them."
- Thomas Paine
"The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of
the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own
arms."
- Samuel Adams
"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
"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. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts
" ... 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