The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Politics & RKBA => Topic started by: ericire12 on June 08, 2009, 08:58:15 AM
-
The purpose of this thread is to compile a reference of quotes that demonstrate the importance of guns to our nation's freedom and our own personal defense. I know that we have referenced these profound words of our founding fathers and other great individuals of history throughout this forum, but I think we need to "database" them all in one thread for quick and easy reference. So here is that thread.....
Rules to abide by:
1. Only one quote per post please (Makes things easier to read)
2. Before you post, make damn sure it is not already posted (if you double posted it, please delete it)
3. Do not post any "I carry a gun because...."
-
I'll start.......
"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 homocides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
-Thomas Jefferson's
-
You know why there's a Second Amendment? In case the government fails to follow the first one.
-- Rush Limbaugh, in a moment of unaccustomed profundity 17 Aug 1993
-
"This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more effective, and the world will follow our lead into the future!" Adolph Hitler 1935
-
"Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom."
-- John F. Kennedy
-
"Better to have a gun and not need it, than to need it and not have it."
-- David Crosby
-
"I may get killed with my own gun, but he's gonna have to beat me to death with it, 'cause it's going to be empty."
~~ Clint Smith, founder of Thunder Ranch
-
I'll give you my gun when you take it from my cold, dead hands!
Charlton Heston
-
Here's my credo. There are no good guns, There are no bad guns. A gun in the hands of a bad man is a bad thing. Any gun in the hands of a good man is no threat to anyone, except bad people.
Charlton Heston
-
“There are hundreds of millions of gun owners in this country, and not one of them will have an accident today. The only misuse of guns comes in environments where there are drugs, alcohol, bad parents, and undisciplined children. Period.”
Ted Nugent
-
"An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life. "
-- Robert A. Heinlein
-
"Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the people's liberty's teeth."
-George Washington
-
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms."
-James Madison
-
"The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference; they deserve a place with all that's good. When firearms go, all goes; we need them every hour."
-George Washington
-
"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity. "
-Sigmund Freud, General Introduction to Psychoanalysis (1952)
-
“When I hold you in my arms and I feel my finger on your trigger I know no one can do me no harm because happiness is a warm gun.”
John Lennon
-
Mohandas K. Gandhi: "Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest. If we want the Arms Act to be repealed, if we want to learn the use of arms, here is a golden opportunity. If the middle classes render voluntary help to Government in the hour of its trial, distrust will disappear, and the ban on possessing arms will be withdrawn." Mohandas K. Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Chapter XXVII, Recruiting Campaign, Page 403, Dover paperback edition, 1983.
-
Admiral Yamamoto: "You cannot invade mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass." Advising Japan's military leaders of the futility of an invasion of the mainland United States because of the widespread availability of guns. It has been theorized that this was a major contributing factor in Japan's decision not to land on North America early in the war when they had vastly superior military strength. This delay gave our industrial infrastructure time to gear up for the conflict and was decisive in our later victory.
-
Adolf Hitler: "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 so doing. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty. So let's not have any native militia or native police. German troops alone will bear the sole responsibility for the maintenance of law and order throughout the occupied Russian territories, and a system of military strong-points must be evolved to cover the entire occupied country." Adolf Hitler, dinner talk on April 11, 1942, quoted in Hitler's Table Talk 1941-44: His Private Conversations, Second Edition (1973), Pg. 425-426. Translated by Norman Cameron and R. H. Stevens.
-
Sigmund Freud: "A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity." ("General Introduction to Psychoanalysis," S. Freud)
repeat
-
Mao Tse Tung: "All political power comes from the barrel of a gun. The communist party must command all the guns, that way, no guns can ever be used to command the party." (Problems of War and Strategy, Nov 6 1938, published in "Selected Works of Mao Zedong," 1965)
repeat
Sorry, I'm posting mine, not reading what others are posting at the same time ;D I'll get to that ;D
-
Jill Fieldstein, CBS producer, Street Stories: Women and Guns: "As a card-carrying member of the liberal media, producing this piece was an eye opening experience. I have to admit that I saw guns as inherently evil, violence begets violence, and so on. I have learned, however, that in trained hands, just the presence of a gun can be a real "man stopper." I am sorry that women have had to resort to this, but wishing it wasn't so won't make it any safer out there. 29 April 1993.
-
And from one of your favorite gun-grabbing gods, Dr. Arthur Kellerman, stated: "If you've got to resist, you're 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, March/April 1994)
-
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch: "In my studies as an attorney and as a United States Senator, I have constantly been amazed by the indifference or even hostility shown the Second Amendment by courts, legislatures, and commentators. James Madison would be startled to hear that his recognition of a right to keep and bear arms, which passed the House by a voice vote without objection and hardly a debate, has since been construed in but a single, and most ambiguous Supreme Court decision, whereas his proposals for freedom of religion, which he made reluctantly out of fear that they would be rejected or narrowed beyond use, and those for freedom of assembly, which passed only after a lengthy and bitter debate, are the subject of scores of detailed and favorable decisions. Thomas Jefferson, who kept a veritable armory of pistols, rifles and shotguns at Monticello, and advised his nephew to forsake other sports in favor of hunting, would be astounded to hear supposed civil libertarians claim firearm ownership should be restricted. Samuel Adams, a handgun owner who pressed for an amendment stating that the "Constitution shall never be construed . . . to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms," would be shocked to hear that his native state today imposes a year's sentence, without probation or parole, for carrying a firearm without a police permit."
-
Senator Orrin Hatch: "If gun laws in fact worked, the sponsors of this type of legislation should have no difficulty drawing upon long lists of examples of crime rates reduced by such legislation. That they cannot do so after a century and a half of trying--that they must sweep under the rug the southern attempts at gun control in the 1870-1910 period, the northeastern attempts in the 1920-1939 period, the attempts at both Federal and State levels in 1965-1976--establishes the repeated, complete and inevitable failure of gun laws to control serious crime." Senator Orrin Hatch, Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution, 97th Cong., 2d Sess., The Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Committee Print I-IX, 1-23 (1982).
-
Sen. Hubert Humphrey: "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. This is not to say that firearms should not be very carefully used, and that definite safety rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, and one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible." Sen. Hubert Humphrey, Know Your Lawmakers, Guns Magazine, Page 4, Feb. 1960.
-
George Orwell: "That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there."
-
The Dalai Lama: "If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun." (May 15, 2001, The Seattle Times)
-
President Theodore Roosevelt: "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.
-
James Earl Jones: "The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry guns, we decent law-abiding citizens should also have guns. Otherwise they will win and the decent people will lose."
-
‘‘Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA - ordinary citizens don't need guns, as their having guns doesn't serve the State.’’
— Heinrich Himmler
-
"There are going to be situations where people are going to go without assistance. That's just the facts of life."
-- LA Police Chief Gates.
-
The wolf cares not, how many the sheep be."
-- Plato
-
‘‘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
-
"The truth is that any good modern rifle is good enough. The determining factor is the man behind the gun."
-- Theodore Roosevelt, 1910.
-
‘ They, the makers of the Constitution: conferred, as against the government, the right to be let alone - the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.’’
‘‘Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficial ... the greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding’’
— Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, 1928
-
‘‘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
-
‘Four out of five politicians surveyed prefer unarmed, ignorant peasants.’’
— Unknown
-
"I won't back down, I'll stand my ground, you can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won't back down."
-- Tom Petty
-
Anyone who gets in a fair fight...has no tactical skills."
-- Anonymous
-
"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed."
-Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers
-
"One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them."
-- Thomas Jefferson, to George Washington, June 19, 1796.
-
"The purpose of the Second Amendment is not to repel foreign invaders, but to assure the ability to overthrow the government if it ceases to be a government run for and by the people". -- Thomas Jefferson.
-
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" -- Benjamin Franklin
-
"Let your gun be your companion on all your walks." -- Thomas Jefferson
I already have a database, we should just put all in a PDF and post it for download.
-
"Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the people's liberty teeth keystone... the rifle and the pistol are equally indispensable... more than 99% of them by their silence indicate that they are in safe and sane hands. The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference. When firearms go, all goes, we need them every hour." George Washington, Address to 1st session of Congress
-
"The price of freedom is the willingness to do sudden battle anywhere, at any time with utter recklessness."
R A Heinlein
Saw it on a Oleg Volk poster last week
-
“Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation.....the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”
-James Madison
-
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, 1788
-
Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss.
Robert A. Heinlein
-
I hate guns.
John Howard Ex PM of Australia ( the Gun thief )
-
I have a very strict gun control policy: if there's a gun around, I want to be in control of it.
Clint Eastwood
-
"How long would the Nazis have kept it up...if every Jew they came after had met them with a gun in his hand?"
Walter Mathau - Fail Safe - 1964
-
Our principles are the springs of our actions. Our actions, the springs of our happiness or misery. Too much care, therefore, cannot be taken in forming our principles.
Red Skelton
-
"because this is MY country and all of it is 'me and mine' "
Haz Jr.
-
"Gun Control: The notion that Matthew Shepard tied to a fence post in the middle of Wyoming is morally superior to Matthew Shepard explaining to the local sheriff how his attackers got all those fatal bullet holes."
Dan Weiner
-
"I believe that guns don't kill people, husbands that come home early do."
Daniel Lawrence Whitney (Larry the Cable Guy)
-
"A man's greatest work is to break his enemies, to drive them before him, to take from them all the things that have been theirs, to hear the weeping of those that cherished them, to take their horses between his knees and press in his arms the most desirable of their women."
-- Genghis Khan
;D I know. Need to read another Greenpeace flyer.
-
There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to change. It is to use the means at hand to inflict the maximum amount of wound, death, and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time."
- General George Patton Jr
-
You can get further with a kind word and a gun, than with a kind word alone.
-Al Capone
-
"Don't worry, it's unloaded."
Various idiots throught out time
-
The Mark Twain classic on gun safety;
Don't meddle with old unloaded firearms. They are the most deadly and unerring things that have ever been created by man. You don't have to take any pains at all with them; you don't have to have a rest, you don't have to have any sights on the gun, you don't have to take aim, even. No, you just pick out a relative and bang away, and you are sure to get him. A youth who can't hit a cathedral at thirty yards with a Gatling gun in three-quarters of an hour, can take up an old empty musket and bag his mother every time at a hundred. Think what Waterloo would have been if one of the armies had been boys armed with old rusty muskets supposed not to be loaded, and the other army had been composed of their female relations. The very thought of it makes me shudder.
- Advice to Youth speech, 4/15/1882
-
The Second Amendment is the reset button on the Constitution.
Jim Quinn
-
"If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it. The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury. Therefore what he must be taught to fear is his victim." - Jeff Cooper
-
"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."
Second Amendment to the Owner's Manual for the United States Of America. ;D
-
"Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man gainst his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright 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."
(Tench Coxe, The Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788.)
-
If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense 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 those of the rulers of an individual State. In a single State, if the persons entrusted 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.
-- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 28