But we're not supposed to be.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest
reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a
last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government"
-- Thomas Jefferson, 1 Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334
"The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil
interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good"
-- George Washington
"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be
properly armed."
-- Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers at 184-188
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.
"I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and
as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical."
-- Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James Madison, January 30, 1787
Men trained in arms from their infancy, and animated by the love of
liberty, will afford neither a cheap or easy conquest.
-- From the Declaration of the Continental Congress, July 1775.
"As to the species of exercise, I advise the gun. While this gives
[only] moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise, and
independence to the mind. Games played with the ball and others of that
nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind.
Let your gun, therefore, be the constant companion to your walks."
-- Thomas Jefferson, writing to his teenaged nephew.
"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire,
a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it
be left to irresponsible action."
-- George Washington, in a speech of January 7, 1790
"A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves ...
and include all men capable of bearing arms."
-- Senator Richard Henry Lee, 1788, on "militia" in the 2nd Amendment
"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who
approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but
downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably
ruined."
-- Patrick Henry, speech of June 5 1788
Are we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing degradation,
that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defence? Where is the
difference between having our arms in our own possession and under our
own direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our
defence be the *real* object of having those arms, in whose hands can
they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our
own hands?
-- Patrick Henry, speech of June 9 1788
"To disarm the people... was the best and most effectual way to enslave
them."
-- George Mason, speech of June 14, 1788
"The great object is, that every man be armed. [...] Every one who is
able may have a gun."
-- Patrick Henry, speech of June 14 1788
That the said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize
Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press or the rights of
conscience; or to prevent the people of the United states who are
peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms...
-- Samuel Adams, in "Phila. Independent Gazetteer", August 20, 1789
The danger (where there is any) from armed citizens, is only to the
*government*, not to *society*; and as long as they have nothing to
revenge in the government (which they cannot have while it is in their
own hands) there are many advantages in their being accustomed to the
use of arms, and no possible disadvantage.
-- Joel Barlow, "Advice to the Privileged Orders", 1792-93
[The disarming of citizens] has a double effect, it palsies the hand and
brutalizes the mind: a habitual disuse of physical forces totally
destroys the moral [force]; and men lose at once the power of protecting
themselves, and of discerning the cause of their oppression.
-- Joel Barlow, "Advice to the Privileged Orders", 1792-93
"Resistance to sudden violence, for the preservation not only of my
person, my limbs, and life, but of my property, is an indisputable right
of nature which I have never surrendered to the public by the compact of
society, and which perhaps, I could not surrender if I would."
--- John Adams, Boston Gazette, Sept. 5, 1763,reprinted in 3
The Works of John Adams 438 (Charles F. Adams ed., 1851).
[The Constitution preserves] the advantage of being armed which
Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation...(where)
the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.
---James Madison,The Federalist Papers, No. 46.
To suppose arms in the hands of citizens, to be used at individual
discretion, except in private self-defense, or by partial orders of
towns, countries or districts of a state, is to demolish every
constitution, and lay the laws prostrate, so that liberty can be enjoyed
by no man; it is a dissolution of the government.
---John Adams, A Defence of the Constitutions of the United
States 475 (1787-1788)
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, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular
troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States. A
military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but
such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will
possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination,
to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and
oppressive.
---Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of
the Federal Constitution (Philadelphia 1787).
Should I go on?
Gruss Gott wrote:
>> tBone wrote:
>> If you have to go to France and to practice self defense, you are in a
>> pretty bad situation.
>
> They're regulated, we're regulated.
>
> But why all the gun worry? What about our friend Mr. Flamethrower???
>
> http://youtube.com/watch?v=fDrzMGdYWZc
>
>
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