Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quote Share via Email Print this Page [41-60] of 185 Guns quotesGuns QuotesGuns Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes All persons have the right to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property and the state.~ New Hampshire Constitution The right is general. It may be supposed from the phraseology of this provision that the right to keep and bear arms was only guaranteed to the militia; but this would be an interpretation not warranted by the intent. The militia, as has been explained elsewhere, consists of those persons who, under the law, are liable to the performance of military duty, and are officered and enrolled for service when called upon. . . . [I]f the right were limited to those enrolled, the purpose of the guarantee might be defeated altogether by the action or the neglect to act of the government it was meant to hold in check. The meaning of the provision undoubtedly is, that the people, from whom the militia must be taken, shall have the right to keep and bear arms, and they need no permission or regulation of law for that purpose.~ Thomas Cooley An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it.~ Jeff Cooper Whereas civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as 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 article in their right to keep and bear their private arms.~ Tench Coxe The militia of these free commonwealths, entitled and accustomed to their arms, when compared with any possible army, must be tremendous and irresistible. Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom. 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 ... the 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.~ Tench Coxe If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.~ Dalai Lama It is unreasonable ... to oblige a man not to attempt the defense of his own life.~ Charles de Montesquieu But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.~ Declaration of Independence Note, however, that trying to ban guns because of strong moral disapproval of them or because of claims that they are 'scary' or that they may be used in crimes would not constitute a 'compelling state interest' any more than an attempt to restrain publication of a book on moral grounds would be. The concept of a 'compelling state interest' cannot swallow up the very right guaranteed in the first place.~ Brannon P. Denning The Nazis, for example, used a national firearms registration system eventually to confiscate all guns and, as they deemed necessary, to execute gun owners.~ Anthony J. Dennis Gun control stems from racist roots, and ... it undermines feminism by send[ing] women the message that they should not use force to defend themselves.~ Robert Dowlut Because this right [of self-defense] cannot be effectively exercised with bare hands, the right to keep and bear arms is the only efficient way to secure the fundamental right of self-defense.~ Robert Dowlut Gun control has not worked in D.C. The only people who have guns are criminals. We have the strictest gun laws in the nation and one of the highest murder rates. It's quicker to pull your Smith and Wesson than to dial 911 if you're being robbed.~ Lt. Lowell Duckett At Waco, was there really an urgency to get those people out of the compound at that particular time? Was the press going to make it look heroic for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms? At Ruby Ridge, there was one guy in a cabin at the top of the mountain. Was it necessary for federal agents to go up there and shoot a 14-year-old in the back and shoot a woman with a child in her arms? What kind of mentality does that?~ Clint Eastwood It is often easier for our children to obtain a gun than it is to find a good school.~ Joycelyn Elders We're bending the law as far as we can to ban an entirely new class of guns.~ Rahm Emmanuel What is a left-wing socialist but a Marxist without a gun?~ Don Feder Banning guns addresses a fundamental right of all Americans to feel safe.~ Dianne Feinstein I know the sense of helplessness that people feel. I know the urge to arm yourself because that's what I did. I was trained in firearms. I walked to the hospital when my husband was sick. I carried a concealed weapon and I made the determination if somebody was going to try and take me out, I was going to take them with me.~ Dianne Feinstein There are some weapons that are just so dangerous that society has a right and the obligation even to take those weapons out of circulation.~ Jim Florio Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print