"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
“The said Constitution [shall] be never 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, debates & Proceedings in the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 86-87.
"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, proposed Virginia constitution, June 1776. 1 Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 (C. J. Boyd, Ed., 1950)
"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed."
-Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers at 184-8.
"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, An Examination into the Leading Principles of the federal Constitution (1787) in Pamphlets to the Constitution of the United States (P. Ford, 1888).
"(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.
“To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.”
- George Mason
"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.
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety" - Ben Franklin
"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."
-Thomas Jefferson, quoting Cesare Beccaria.
The socialist solution to the so-called “gun problem” is the incremental implementation of legislation, which will increasingly restrict the ownership of arms until which time they are positioned to replace 20,000 federal, state and local gun laws with one law — no guns, except perhaps those narrowly defined for sporting purposes.
"Waiting periods are only a step. Registration is only a step.
The prohibition of private firearms is the goal."
- Janet Reno
Of course, their unspoken motive is to disarm the people, rendering them of necessity at the mercy of the standing army and increasingly, the police state.
"We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans ..."
Bill Clinton (USA TODAY, 11 March 1993, page 2A)
"Gun control has cleared the way for seven major genocides since 1915,
in which governments gone bad murdered 56,000,000 persons, including millions of children."
- Aaron Zelman of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
To justify the outlawing of guns and other personal weapons, socialist power seekers and other liberal groups have used the excuse that such a law would decrease the crime wave. They do this by convincing citizens that the right to bear arms is too dangerous. Thereby, taking away the right to defend yourself and your friends and your families.
Bill Clinton said following the defeat of gun legislation in Congress, "It was a great victory for the NRA, but it was a great defeat for the safety of our children. So one more time the Congress of the United States, with the majority in the lead, says we don't care what's necessary to protect our children."
What became commonplace for the Clinton Whitehouse - using children as pawns in the socialist powerplay to strip Americans of their constitutional rights - Bill Clinton attempted to pull at our emotional strings (for the children) as if somehow gun regulation would protect children.
Handgun Control, Inc., claimed, “Everyday we lose 13 children to gun violence in this country. ... This debate is not about guns. It’s about children.”
WRONG! The fact is, 85% of the “children” we lose to “gun violence” are aged 15 to 19, and drawn from the ranks of the socially disenfranchised and gang-bangers.
The debate is not about children. It's about control.
"Our task of creating a socialist America can only succeed when those who would resist us have been totally disarmed."
Sara Brady, Chairman, Handgun Control, to Sen. Howard Metzanbaum, The National Educator, January 1994, Page 3.
“One man with a gun can control 100 without one. ...
Make mass searches and hold executions for found arms.”
- V.I. Lenin
“If the opposition disarms, well and good.
If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves.”
- Joseph Stalin