Quotes

• "...but if circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude, that army can never be formitable to the liberties of the people, while there is a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in discipline and use of arms, who stand ready to defend their rights..."
  (Alexander Hamilton speaking of standing armies in Federalist 29.)
• "Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American... The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state government, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people"
  (Tench Coxe, Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788)
• "To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms, and be taught alike especially when young, how to use them."
  (Richard Henery Lee, 1788, Initiator of the Declaration of Independence, and member of the first Senate, which passed the Bill of Rights.)[5]
• "The great object is that every man be armed" and "everyone who is able may have a gun."
  (Patrick Henry, in the Virginia Convention on the ratification of the Constitution.)[1]
• "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 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)[8]
• "Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence... From the hour the Pilgrims landed, to the present day, events, occurrences, and tendencies prove that to insure peace, security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable... The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that is good"
  (George Washington)
• I support car ownership although cars can be used to drive drunk.
  I support pharmaceutical manufacture although drugs can be abused.
  I support swimming pool ownership although kids can drown in them.
  I support steak-knife ownership although they can be used in stabbings.
  I support free speech although people say things I don't like to hear.
  I support freedom of religion although cults do the damnedest things.
  I support parenthood although parents can abuse their children.
  I support pregnancy although abortion couldn't happen without it.
  I support penis ownership although they are used in rapes.
  I support gun ownership although guns can be used in crime.
  I support open elections although a moron became President.
• "Those who are willing to give up liberty to gain order will lose both and deserve neither."
  Ben Franklin
• "A goverment big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take it all away."
  Barry Goldwater
• "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)