Founding Fathers on the Second Amendment

• GEORGE WASHINGTON (First President)

  • "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." (Address to 1st session of Congress)

• 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)

  • "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." (Jefferson Papers, p. 334, C.J. Boyd, 1950)

  • "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)

  • "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)

  • "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)

  • "I have a right to nothing which another has a right to take away." (letter to Uriah Forrest, 1787, Jefferson Papers, 12:477)

  • "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)

• 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)

  • "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)

  • "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)

  • "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)

  • "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)

• JOHN ADAMS (Signed Declaration of Independence, Continental Congress delegate, 1st Vice President, 2nd President)

  • "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)

  • "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. The fundamental law of the militia is, that it be created, directed and commanded by the laws, and ever for the support of the laws." A Defense of the Constitutions of the United States 475 (1787-1788)

• JAMES MONROE (Served in Revolutionary Army, member Continental Congress, Governor of Virginia, U.S. Secretary of State, Secretary of War, 5th President)

  • "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)

• SAM ADAMS (Signed Declaration of Independence, organized the Sons of Liberty, participated in Boston Tea Party, Member of Continental Congress, Governor of Massachusetts)

  • "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)

• 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)

  • "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)

  • "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."

  • "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)

  • "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)

  • "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 ..." (I Annals of Congress 434, June 8, 1789)

• 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)

  • "A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves...and include all men capable of bearing arms." 1788 (Federal Farmer, p.169)

  • "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)

  • "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."

• REP. ELBRIDGE GERRY OF MASSACHUSETTS (spoken during floor debate over the Second Amendment, I Annals of Congress at 750, August 17, 1789)

  • "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."

• HUBERT H. HUMPHREY, (Senator, Vice President, 22 October 1959)

  • "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."

• 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." (Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, p. 3:746-7, 1833 )

• JAMES BURGH, (18th century English Libertarian writer, Shalhope)

  • " ... 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." (The Ideological Origins of the Second Amendment, p.604)

• 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 )

  • "The great object is, that every man be armed.... Every one who is able may have a gun." (Elliot p.3:386)

  • "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)

  • "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)

  • "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)

  • "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.)

• PATRICK HENRY (3 J. Elliot, Debates in the Several State Conventions 45, 2d ed. Philadelphia, 1836 )

  • "Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of them under the management of Congress? 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 us, as in our own hands?"

• BEN FRANKLIN (member, Continental Congress, signed Declaration of Independence, attended Constitutional Convention, 1st Postmaster General)

  • "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."

  • "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)

• NOAH WEBSTER (Served in Revolutionary Army, Printed dictionary; a federalist)

  • "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)

  • "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)

• 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')

  • "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)

  • "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." (Federalist No. 28)

• TENCH COXE (friend of Madison, member of Continental Congress)

  • "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)

  • "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

  • "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)

• REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAMSON (member of the first Congress of the United States)

  • "The burden of the militia duty lies equally upon all persons;" in Congress, 22 Dec 1790 (Elliot, p423)

• WILLIAM GRAYSON (Senator from Virginia in first Congress under the United States Constitution)

  • "Last Monday a string of amendments were presented to the lower house; these altogether respect personal liberty..." (in letter to Patrick Henry)

• ZACHARIA JOHNSON (delegate to Virginia Ratifying Convention)

  • "The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full possession of them." (Elliot, 3:645-6)

Those who disagree with the previous quotes

• ADOLPH, HITLER'S SECRET CONVERSATIONS 403 (Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens trans., 1961)

  • "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."

• BRITISH MAJOR JOHN PITCAIRN (Commander of Advance Guard of British forces marching to Concord, MA)

  • "Disperse you rebels; damn you, throw down your arms and disperse." (order to American militiamen at Lexington, 1775)

• BILL CLINTON (President of the United States)

  • "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)

  • "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]

  • "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

  • "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

• JOSE CERDA (White House official)

  • "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.")

• RONNIE EDLEMAN (Department of Justice, Clinton Administration)

  • "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

• JANET RENO (U.S. Attorney General)

  • "Gun registration is not enough." (Associated Press 10 Dec 93)

  • "I've always proposed state licensing...with some federal standards." (ABC's "Good Morning America" 10 Dec 93)

  • "[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)

  • "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)

• JOYCELYN ELDERS (Former U.S. Surgeon General) ...on gun ownership

  • "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)

• FIDEL CASTRO

  • "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)

• JOSEPH McNAMARA (Police Chief, San Jose, CA)

  • "I have made it considerably tougher for residents to get handgun permits." (in his book Safe and Sane, 1984)

• DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN (U.S. Senator)

  • "...we could tax them [firearms] out of existence." (Washington Post 4 Nov 93)

• MAJOR OWENS (U.S. Congressman)

  • "My bill...establishes a 6-month grace period for the turning in of handguns." (Congressional Record 10 Nov 93)

  • "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)

• DIANE FEINSTEIN (California Senator, author of "Feinstein Amendment" which became the '94 gun ban)

  • "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]

• MEL REYNOLDS (U.S. Congressman)

  • "If it were up to me, we'd ban them all [firearms]." (CNN Crossfire 9 Dec 93)

• PATRICK KENNEDY (U.S. Congressman, R.I.)

  • "Kennedy said he favors an outright ban on handguns, but doubts its palatability in the current political climate." (Providence Journal, 4 Jan 99)

• NELSON T. (PETE) SHIELDS III (Founder, Handgun Control, Inc./National Council to Control Handguns)

  • "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)

• SARAH BRADY (Chairman, Handgun Control, Inc.)

  • "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)

  • "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)

  • "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)

• JOSH SUGARMANN (Executive Director, Violence Policy Center; former Communications Director of the National Coalition to Ban Handguns)

  • "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")

  • "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")

  • "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)

• SUSAN GLICK (Spokesperson for the Violence Policy Center)

  • "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)

• DR. ARTHUR KELLERMAN (Published 1986 "study" discouraging people from using guns for self defense)

  • "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 )

• MICHAEL GARTNER ( President NBC News)

  • "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)

• USA Today Newspaper Articles

  • "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

  • "A bill requiring all handguns to be given to the government will be introduced Tuesday by Sen. John Chafee." 1 Jun 92

• LOS ANGELAS TIMES Newspaper Article

  • "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

• CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER (Syndicated columnist)

  • "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)

• WILLIAM GREIDER (writer, Rolling Stone magazine)

  • "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)

• CHARLES MORGAN (Director, American Civil Liberties Union, Washington, D.C. office)

  • "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

• CARL ROWAN (Washington, DC Syndicated Columnist)

  • "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)

  • "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)

• DR. JOYCE BROTHERS (Psychiatrist, TV personality)

  • "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]

• SYLVESTER STALLONE (Actor)

  • "The only way to make America safe: go house to house and confiscate every gun." (Access Hollywood, 8 June 98)

• MIKE SEELY (Spokesman for Washington Citizens for Handgun Safety, gun control lobby group pushing I-676, a gun licensing law)

  • "Their movement [2^nd 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)

  • "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%)

• NAZI LAW (Regulations Against Jews' Possession of Weapons, 11 Nov 1938, German Minister of the Interior)

  • "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."

• FIREARMS REFRESHER COURSE

  • An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.

  • A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.

  • Gun Lock: The original point and 'click' interface.

  • Gun control is not about guns; it's about control.

  • If guns are outlawed, can we use swords?

  • If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words.

  • Free Men Do not ask permission to bear arms.

  • If you don't know your rights you don't have any.

  • Those who trade liberty for security have neither.

  • The United States Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights reserved.

  • What part of "shall not be infringed" do you not understand?

  • The Second Amendment is in place in case they ignore the others.

  • 64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.

  • Guns only have two enemies: rust and liberals.

  • Know guns, know peace and safety. No guns, no peace nor safety.

  • You don't shoot to kill; you shoot to stay alive.

  • 911 - government sponsored Dial-a-Prayer.

  • Assault is a behavior, not a device.

  • Criminals love gun control -- it makes their jobs safer.

  • If guns cause crime, then matches cause arson.

  • Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control them.

  • You only have the rights you are willing to fight for.

  • When you remove the people's right to bear arms, you create slaves.

  • The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.