“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace.”
 — Luke 11:21 RSV

Bill of Rights Second Admendment - Right to keep and bear arms
“A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878
"… all male persons in the frontiers capable of bearing arms, shall carry their arms with them and be well provided for their defense when they go to public worship on the Lord's day, or other times, and also when they go abroad to work, on pain of forfeiting five shillings for each neglect, to be to the use of the town towards the procuring of arms or ammunition.”
—  Massachusetts Colony Act, 1706

"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 shall 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 (1755–1824) Political economist, delegate for Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress

“No free 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 tyranny in government.”
—  Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of Independence, 3rd President of the U. S.

“I am thus far a Quaker, that I would gladly agree with all the world to lay aside the use of arms, and settle matters by negotiation: but unless the whole will, the matter ends, and I take up my musket and thank heaven he has put it in my power.”
— Thomas Paine (1736-1809) Patriot, Author & Pamphleteer

"They that can give up liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
— Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Statesman, Scientist, Inventor, Printer and Philosopher

"Are we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in our own possession and under our own 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 (1736-1799) Patriot, Lawyer and Orator

"Whereas, 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; nor does it follow from this, that all promiscuously must go into actual service on every occasion. The mind that aims at a select militia, must be influenced by a truly anti-republican principle; and when we see many men disposed to practice upon it, whenever they can prevail, no wonder true republicans are for carefully guarding against it."
— Federal Farmer, Antifederalist Letter, No.18

“Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of. Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried 'as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”
— James Madison, Father of the U.S. Constitution and author of the Second Amendment

"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."
— Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794) Founding Father

Head Quarters, New York, May 15, 1776:
"The Continental Congress having ordered Friday, the 17th instant, to be observed as a day of "Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer, humbly to supplicate the mercy of Almighty God, that it would please him to pardon all our manifold sins and transgressions, and to prosper the arms of the United Colonies, and finally establish the peace and freedom of America upon a solid and lasting foundation," the general commands all officers and soldiers to pay strict attention to the orders of the Continental Congress, and, by the unfeigned and pious observance of their religious duties, incline the Lord and Giver of victory to prosper our arms.”
— George Washington (1732-1799) Father of the Country, 1st President of the United States

“To disarm the people [is] …the best and most effectual way to enslave them.”
— George Mason (1725-1792) Founding Father & Author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights

"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, counties 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."
—  John Adams (1797-1801) Second President of the United States and Patriot

"The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference—they deserve a place of honor with all that is good."
— George Washington (1732-1799) Father of the Country, 1st President of the United States

“Our unalterable resolution would be to be free. They have attempted to subdue us by force, but God be praised! in vain. Their arts may be more dangerous then their arms. Let us then renounce all treaty with them upon any score but that of total separation, and under God trust our cause to our swords.”
— Samuel Adams (1722–1803) Father of the American Revolution, Patriot and Statesman

"A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks."
—  Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of Independence, 3rd President of the U. S.

"If a well-regulated militia be the most natural defense of a free country, it ought certainly to be under the regulation and at the disposal of that body which is constituted the guardian of the national security. If standing armies are dangerous to liberty, an efficacious power over the militia in the same body ought, as far as possible, to take away the inducement and the pretext to such unfriendly institutions. If the federal government can command the aid of the militia in those emergencies which call for the military arm in support of the civil magistrate, it can the better dispense with the employment of a different kind of force. If it cannot avail itself of the former, it will be obliged to recur to the latter. To render an army unnecessary will be a more certain method of preventing its existence than a thousand prohibitions upon paper
— Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) Lawyer, Secretary of the Treasury & Secretary of State

“One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them.”
—  Thomas Jefferson, Author of the Declaration of Independence, 3rd President of the U. S.

"When the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was advised by an artful man, - who was governor of Pennsylvania, 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."
— George Mason (1725-1792) Founding Father & Author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights

"Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of."
— James Madison (1751-1836) Father of the Constitution, 4th President of the United States

"The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered as the palladium of the liberties of a republic."
— Joseph Story (1779-1845) Lawyer, Supreme Court Justice & influential commentators on the U.S. Constitution

"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States."
— Noah Webster (1758-1843)  Father of the Dictionary & American Patriot

“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace;”
— Luke 11:21 RSV

"The framers gave us the Second Amendment not so we could go deer or duck hunting but to give us a modicum of protection against congressional tyranny."
—  Walter E. Williams (1936 -  ) Economics professor, author and columnist

"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 the subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty."
— Adolph Hitler (1889-1945) Founder of the Nazi Party, German leader responsible for WWII

“One man with a gun can control 100 without one. ”
— Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) Communist Dictator of the USSR who lead the Bolshevik Revolution

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