"The — the reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than they are for those plagued by gang violence in Cleveland, but don’t tell me we can’t uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals."
-Sen. Obama DNC Address

"Yes, I'm denying you your rights."
-L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley, questioned about constitutional rights at a "Save the Brady Bill" rally. Steve Comus Western Outdoor News, September 4, 1992

"We must be able to arrest people before they commit crimes. By registering guns and knowing who has them we can do that... If they have guns they are pretty likely to commit a crime."
-Vermont State Senator Mary Ann Carlson

"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."
-President Bill Clinton, MTV's "Enough is Enough," April 19, 1994

"We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans."
-President Bill Clinton, March 1, 1993, during a press conference in Piscataway , NJ. USA TODAY, March 11, 1993

"The purpose of government is to rein in the rights of the people"
-President Bill Clinton, MTV interview, 1993

"You know the one thing that's wrong with this country? Everyone gets a chance to have their fair say."
-President Bill Clinton, May 28, 1993 speech in the city hall courtyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

"You can't say you love your country and hate your government."
-President Bill Clinton, 1995, commenting on the Oklahoma City bombing

"If the personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution inhibit the government's ability to govern the people, we should look to limit those guarantees."
-President Bill Clinton, August 12, 1993

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

"No, we're not looking at how to control criminals ... we're talking about banning the AK-47 and semi-automatic guns."
-U.S. Senator Howard Metzenbaum, 1993

"I don't care about crime, I just want to get the guns."
-U.S. Senator. Howard Metzenbaum, 1994

"Forget what our forefathers said."
-Dominick Potifrone, ATF Special Agent (Retired) "On the Inside: The BATF", Discovery Channel, 2000

"Waiting periods are only a step. Registration is only a step. The prohibition of private firearms is the goal."
-U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, December 1993

"If someone is so fearful that, that they're going to start using their weapons to protect their rights, makes me very nervous that these people have these weapons at all!"
~ Rep. Henry Waxman, D-NY, 5/2001 MSNBC report on .50BMG rifles.

"There is nothing in the law to indicate the term 'sporting purposes' was intended to recognize every conceivable type of activity or competition which might employ a firearm."
-ATF spokesperson, 1989, on the import ban

"Another rifle caliber, the 30.30 caliber, was responsible for penetrating three officers' armor and killing them in 1993, 1996, and 2002. This ammunition is also capable of puncturing light-armored vehicles, ballistic or armored glass, armored limousines, even a 600-pound safe with 600 pounds of safe armor plating.
It is outrageous and unconscionable that such ammunition continues to be sold in the United States of America. Armor-piercing ammunition for rifles and assault weapons is virtually unregulated in the United States. A Federal license is not required to sell such ammunition unless firearms are sold as well. Anyone over the age of 18 may purchase this ammunition without a background check. There is no Federal minimum age of possession. Purchases may be made over the counter, by mail order, by fax, by Internet, and there is no Federal requirement that dealers retain sales records."
––- Senator Edward Kennedy, New York (February 26, 2004, Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, Congressional Record, (Pp. S1634-5)

From:  This thread http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=137&t=786128
"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

"The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert 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."
–– Thomas Jefferson

"And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time that the people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms....The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants"
–– Thomas Jefferson

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
–– Thomas Jefferson

"Any society willing to give up a little liberty for a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
–– Thomas Jefferson

"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
–– Thomas Jefferson

"A free people ought...to be armed..."
–– George Washington

"When firearms go, all goes - we need them every hour."
–– George Washington

"The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference they deserve a place of honor with all that's good."
–– George Washington

"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."
–– George Washington

"To disarm the people (is) the best and most effectual way to enslave them..."
–– George Mason

"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed."
–– Alexander Hamilton

"The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full possession of them."
–– Zachariah Johnson

"In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man and brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot."
––Mark Twain

"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any public official, save exactly to the degree he himself stands by the country."
––Theodore Roosevelt

"The Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms."
–– Samuel Adams

"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."
–– Samuel Adams

"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

"...the people have a right to keep and bear arms."
–– Patrick Henry and George Mason

"Arms in the hands of citizens (may) be used at individual discretion...in private self defense..."
–– John Adams

"(The Constitution preserves) the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation... (where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms."
–– James Madison

"...arms...discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. ...Horrid mischief would ensue were (the law-abiding) deprived the use of them."
–– Thomas Paine

"Liberty has never come from government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of government. The history of liberty is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of limitations of government power, not the increase of it."
–– Woodrow Wilson

"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 to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
–– Thomas Jefferson, quoting Cesare Beccaria

"The right of the people to keep and bear...arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country..."
–– James Madison

"The militia is a voluntary force not associated or under the control of the States except when called out; [when called into actual service] a permanent or long standing force would be entirely different in make-up and call."
–– Alexander Hamilton

"A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves... and include all men capable of bearing arms."
–– Richard Henry Lee

"I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials."
–– George Mason

"The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age..."
–– Title 10, Section 311 of the U.S. Code

"The people are masters of both Congress and courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it!"
–– Abraham Lincon

"If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government..."
–– Alexander Hamilton

"When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."
–– unknown

"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 1935

"...and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one."
–– Jesus Christ, Luke 22:36

same as above thread

"Rifles, muskets, long-bows and hand-grenades are inherently democratic weapons. A complex weapon makes the strong stronger, while a simple weapon –– so long as there is no answer to it –– gives claws to the weak."
–– George Orwell (Hippies always like to talk about 1984)

"Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom. "
–– John F. Kennedy (Hippies love JFK. Whatever he says = gospel.)

"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. "
–– Mahatma Gandhi (Need I explain? Reallly??)

"A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie."
–– Vladimir Lenin

"Waiting periods are only a step. Registration is only a step. Prohibition of private firearms is the goal."
–– Attorney General Janet Reno

"...disarming the Canadian public is part of the new humanitarian social agenda."
–– Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axeworthy


...and...


"You like to fire assault weapons? I have a place for you. It's not in the homes and streets of America. It's called the Army, and you can join any time!"
–– Wesley Clark, Democratic Party

"There is no right to have access to the weapons of war in the streets of America. For those who want to wield those weapons, we have a place for them. It is the U.S. military."
–– John Kerry, Democratic Party

"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, Nazi Party

"... 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, 1788