Thomas Jefferson and Others on the Right to Bear Arms

"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 prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed one." ~ Thomas Jefferson, (Quoting Cesare Beccari's "On Crimes and Punishment")
George Washington: "Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the
people's liberty teeth (and) keystone... the rifle and the pistol are equally indispensable... more than
99% of them [guns] by their silence indicate that they are in safe and sane hands. The very
atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference [crime]. When firearms go, all goes,
we need them every hour." (Address to 1st session of Congress)
George Washington: "A free people ought to be armed." (Jan 14 1790, Boston Independent Chronicle.)
James Madison: "Americans have the right and advantage of being armed, unlike the people of
other countries, whose people are afraid to trust them with arms." (Federalist Paper #46)
Adolf Hitler: "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."
(Chancelor's Speech, 1935)
Charles Shumer: (US Congress, has sworn an oath to defend the US Constitution) "All we ask for
is registration, just like we do for cars." (Press conference, 1993, exact date being sought)

Adolf Hitler: "The most foolish mistake we could make would be to allow the subject peoples to
possess arms. So let's not have any talk about native militias." (Hitler's Secret Conversations,
1941-44, Farrar, Strauss and Young, 1953)

Mao Tse Tung: "All political power comes from the barrel of a gun. The communist party must
command all the guns, that way, no guns can ever be used to command the party." (Problems of
War and Strategy, Nov 6 1938, published in "Selected Works of Mao Zedong," 1965)

Diane Feinstein: "US Senator, If I could have banned them all- 'Mr. and Mrs. America turn in
your guns' -I would have!" (Statement on TV program 69 Minutes, Feb 5 1995)

Mahatma Gandhi: "Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the
act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest." ("Gandhi, an Autobiography," M.K. Gandhi,
446)

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