The following quotes were compiled by "The Water Rat" h20rat@hotmail.com
and are being posted with his permission. I have left his comments intact. I really appreciate the time and effort involved in putting these together. Please feel free to e-mail him and tell him" Well done" As another poster signs" Compromise is not an option". It is clear what path the ban of private arms holds, as history does indeed repeat itself. I posted an article a few months ago that originated in classical times, and it reflected many of our concerns today.
"No 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 the tyranny in government" --Thomas Jefferson, June 1776
"The constitutions of most of our states, and of the United States, asserts 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 and that they are entitled to freedom of person, freedom of religion, freedom of property, and freedom of press" --Thomas Jefferson
Of Course in the past there has been those in favor of gun control:
"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 efficient and the world will follow our lead into the future." Adolf Hitler - 1934
But this patriot probably said it the best:
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -- Benjamin Franklin
I think it is quite clear that the framers of our constitution had no intent of limiting the ownership of firearms.
"The highest number to which a standing army can be carried in any country does not exceed one hundredth part of the souls, or one twenty-fifth part of the number able to bear arms. This portion would not yield, in the United States, an army of more than twenty-five or thirty thousand men. To these would be opposed a militia amounting to near half a million citizens with arms in their hands, officered by men chosen from among themselves, fighting for their common liberties and united and conducted by governments possessing their affections and confidence. It may well be doubted whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be conquered by such a proportion of regular troops. Besides the advantage of being armed, it forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of. The governments of Europe are afraid to trust the people with arms. If they did, the people would surely shake off the yoke of tyranny, as America did. Let us not insult the free and gallant citizens of America with the suspicion that they would be less able to defend the rights of which they would be in actual possession than the debased subjects of arbitrary power would be to rescue theirs from the hands of their oppressors. James Madison, principal author of Constitution
"Here, every private person is authorized to arm himself". John Adams
"Americans have the right and advantage of being armed unlike citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." James Madison
"Little more can be reasonably aimed at with respect to the people at large than to have them properly armed and equipped. The scheme of disciplining the whole nation must be abandoned as mischievous and impracticable." Alexander Hamilton
"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 Henry Lee, 1787
"A free people ought to be armed." George Washington, 1790
"The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun." Patrick Henry
"The 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
"Unfortunately, nothing will preserve public liberty but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined" Patrick Henry
"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." - Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts,
spoken during floor debate over the Second Amendment, I Annals of Congress at 750, August 17, 1789
There is of course the argument that the National Guard is the Militia spoken of but, nothing could be further from the TRUTH.
"The Militia is composed of all free citizens." Samuel Adams
"The conclusion is thus inescapable that the history, concept, and wording of the second amendment to the Constitution of the United States, as well as its interpretation by every major commentator and court in the first half-century after its ratification, indicates that what is protected is an individual right of a private citizen to own and carry firearms in a peaceful manner." . . . "In the Militia Act of 1792, the second Congress defined 'militia of the United States'
The National Guard did not exist from the beginnings of the Republic until 1903 when it was instituted and created by Congress as the Act of January 21 , 1903, known by the name of its sponsor as "The Dick Act".
In 1982 the Senate Judiciary Committee Sub-committee on the Constitution stated in Senate Document 2807:
"That the National Guard is not the 'Militia' referred to in the Second Amendment is even clearer today. Congress had organized the National Guard under its power to 'raise and support armies' and not its power to 'Provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia.' The modern National Guard was specifically intended to avoid status as the constitutional militia, a distinction recognized by 10 U.S.C. 311(a).
Title 32 U.S.C. in July 1918 completely altered the definition of the militia and its service, who controls it and what it is. The difference between the National Guard and Regular Army was swept away, and became a personnel pay folder classification only, thus nationalizing the entire National Guard into the Regular Standing Armies of the United States."
All the arms, munitions, armament and equipment of the National Guard is owned and controlled by the federal government, not by "the people" as clearly stipulated in the last phrase of the Second Amendment.
Also, the Federal Supreme Court ruled that no Civil Organization whether the Police, military or courts is responsible for your safety, you are. As a result the "shall issue" law was passed, in most states, partially restoring (though very regulated) the right of citizens to carry concealed.
"Law enforcement agencies and personnel have no duty to protect individuals from the criminal acts of others; instead their duty is to preserve the peace and arrest law breakers for the protection of the general public." Lynch v. NC Dept. Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
and previously,
"To prohibit a citizen from wearing or carrying a war arm is an unwarranted restriction upon the constitutional right to keep and bear arms. If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." Supreme Court, (1878)
Why do I feel so strongly about protecting this right? I feel that it is our responsibility as citizens to protect our Rights (these are not earned privileges granted by a caring government, they are "natural" rights that the framers of our Constitution Believed were granted by god "…he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one." Luke 22:36). In this right all others are in the balance. If we lose this one, we can do nothing to protect the rest.
"It is not the function of the government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error." U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson
..."Government is not reason. Government is not eloquence. It is force. And, like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." George Washington
"The right of self-defense is the first law of nature; in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest possible limits. When the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction." George Tucker, Virginia Supreme Court
"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
"I am now of the opinion that a compelling case for "stricter gun control" cannot be made, at least not on empirical grounds. I have nothing but respect for the various pro-gun control advocates with whom I have come in contact over the past years. They are, for the most part, sensitive, humane and intelligent people, and their ultimate aim, to reduce death and violence in our society, is one that every civilized person must share. I have, however, come to be convinced that they are barking up the wrong tree." James Wright (scholarly research in collaboration with Peter Rossi)
"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may be even a worse fate. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." Winston Churchill Speech before Parliament, 1939
If you think this can not happen:
"The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of a million is a statistic." Josef Stalin, responsible for over 30 million deaths.
"I am not a dictator...Those that call me that do not understand the principles of Socialism." Joseph Stalin, 1932 (just recently that Democratic Party admitted that they are in favor of and supporters of bring about Socialism in America)
"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." -Chairman Mao
"The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subjected people to carry arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subjected peoples to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing... ...So let's not have any native militia or police." Adolph Hitler, Edict of March 18, 1938
"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
"...the rank and file are usually much more primitive than we imagine. Propaganda must therefore always be essentially simple and repetitious." Joseph Goebbels - Nazi Propaganda Minister (the democrats sure have a mastery of this)
"Gun registration is not enough." U.S.Attorney General, Janet Reno on "Good morning America," 12/10/93
"Waiting periods are only a step. Registration is only a step. The prohibition of private firearms is the goal." - Janet Reno (Heinrich Himmler reincarnated)
"The American people must be willing to give up a degree of personal privacy in exchange for safety and security." Louis Freeh Director of the FBI, 1993 (Benjamin Franklin roll over in your grave)
"The strongest gun legislation...I will enforce diligently and exhaustively." Louis Freeh FBI Director, U.S. Senate Confirmation Hearings, 1993.
"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 them all in, I would have done it." Senator Diane Feinstein
"We're going to hammer guns on the anvil of relentless legislative strategy. We're going to beat guns into submission." Rep. Chuck Schumer, (Anti-Gun Zealot, LIAR and Bill Clinton's court fool.)
In this comment, in addition to declaring the Constitution a "radical document," Bill Clinton is totally ignoring the Fourth Amendment.-"When we got organized as a country and we wrote a fairly radical Constitution with a radical Bill of Rights, giving a radical amount of individual freedom to Americans ...... And so a lot of people say there's too much personal freedom. When personal freedom's being abused, you have to move to limit it. That's what we did in the announcement I made last weekend on the public housing projects, about how we're going to have weapon sweeps and more things like that to try to make people safer in their communities." Bill Clinton, on MTV 3-22-94 (how interesting can you say Hie Clinton)
"We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans." William Jefferson Clinton, USA Today, March 11, 1993. (I wonder who he is talking about when he uses the term "ORDINARY" Americans? What does he consider himself to be?)
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. --George Santayana The Life of Reason, 1906
h20rat@hotmail.com
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