LINKS TO THE TRUTH ABOUT PROTECTING YOURSELF
THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS
THE VERY BEST ASSEMBLAGE OF STATEMENTS REGARDING THE SECOND AMENDMENT I'VE FOUND IS BY JIM EASON. JIM IS A TALK SHOW HOST ON KSFO 560 AM RADIO IN SAN FRANCISCO. HERE JIM HAS GIVEN YOU THE HISTORY AND ACTUAL WORDS WRITTEN AND SPOKEN BY THE FOUNDERS OF THE COUNTRY. THESE AMAZING MEN, MANY OF WHOM BECAME PRESIDENTS, UNDERSTOOD THAT GOVERNMENTS CAN GO BAD AND CAUSE THEIR POPULATIONS TO BE ENSLAVED AND SUFFER.
THEY WERE NOT INFLUENCED BY TELEVISION AND ITS BRAIN DEAD, ILLITERATE TALKING HEADS SUCH AS BROKAW, JENNINGS, AND RATHER.
THEY WERE INFLUENCED BY A WAR TO FREE THEM FROM ENGLAND'S INSANE AND CONTROLLING RULER. THEY REBELLED AGAINST RELIGIOUS RESTRICTIONS. THEY REBELLED AGAINST TAXES. THEY REBELLED AGAINST HAVING NO POWER TO REMOVE THE MONARCH FROM POWER.
AND THEY REBELLED NOT BY THROWING ROCKS BUT BY USING GUNS.
WHERE THE POPULATION IS UNARMED THERE ARE GENOCIDES, MILLIONS DIE.WHERE THE POPULATION IS ARMED THERE ARE ACCIDENTS, FEW DIE.
AROUND THE WORLD MOST OF THE SAFEST COUNTRIES HAVE THEIR POPULATION ARMED WITH GUNS. A COUPLE YEARS AGO AUSTRALIA BANNED ALL GUNS. THE RESULT YOU ASK? A 300% RISE IN ARMED CRIME. IN ISRAEL TERRORISTS THAT TRY TO COMMIT MASS MURDER ARE SHOT DEAD BEFORE WOUNDING MANY PEOPLE. MOST OF THE POPULATION CARRY CONCEALED WEAPONS.
IN THE U.S. THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA HAS THE STRICTEST GUN LAWS AND THE HIGHEST CRIME RATE. VERMONT WITH THE LEAST GUN LAWS HAS ONE OF THE LOWEST CRIME RATES. GO FIGURE!
SO NOW LET'S GO TO STATEMENTS ABOUT THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS.
ARTICLE TWO, BILL OF RIGHTS, U.S. CONSTITUTION: "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."
This article...goes back to the English Bill of Rights. Madison's seventh item accepts the Virginia convention bill's seventeenth article...Article 13 of the Virginia Bill of Rights is the underlying source. The Pennsylvania minority was the first to propose an amendment dealing with this topic. This assessment was made by Edward Dumbauld about The Bill of Rights.
The English Bill of Rights, 1689
(King James II...did endeavor to subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion, and the laws and liberties of this kingdom...). 6. By causing several good subjects, being Protestants, to be disarmed, at the same time when papists were both armed and employed, contrary to law. (...the said lords spiritual and temporal, and commons...declare...). 7. That the subjects which are Protestants, may have arms for their defense suitable to their conditions, and as allowed by law...
Virginia Bill of Rights, June, 1776
13. That the well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state...
Proposed by Pennsylvania, December, 1778
7. That the people have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and their own State, or the United States, for the purpose of killing game; and no law shall be passed for disarming the people or any of them, unless for crimes committed, or real danger of public injury of individuals...
Proposed by New Hampshire, June, 1778
Congress shall never disarm any Citizen unless such as are or have been in Actual Rebellion.
Proposed by Virginia, June 1788
That the People have the right to keep and bear Arms; that a well regulated Militia, including the body of the People capable of bearing Arms, is the proper, natural and safe defense of a free state;
Proposed by North Carolina, August 1788
17th. That the people have a right to keep and bear arms; that a well regulated militia composed of the body of the people, trained to arms is the proper, natural and safe defense of a free state.
Offered by Madison in Congress, June 1789
The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well armed and well regulated militia being the best security of a free country...
Reported by the select Committee, July 1789
A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, being the best security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed...
Passed by the House of Representatives, August 1789
Article the Fifth. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the People, being the best security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed...
Passed by the Senate, September 1789
Article the Fourth. 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.
ARMS, MILITIA, and FREEDOM
"Those who have command of Arm's in a country are Masters of the State." Socrates
The Constitution
The 4th Amendment
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
The 14th Amendment
"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person with its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Edmund Burke said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Thomas Paine said, "...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 of the use of them."
George Mason said,
"Ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials."
"to disarm the people-that is the best and most effective way to enslave them."
George Washington said,
"Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are people's liberty tenth."
"A free people ought to be armed. When firearms go, all goes. We need them every hour."
Elbridge Gerry said, "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."
Richard Henry Lee said, "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." He also said, "A militia, when properly formed are in fact the people themselves...and include all men capable of bearing arms."
Thomas Jefferson said,
"No free men shall ever be debarred the use of arms...The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
"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."
"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."
"False is the idea of utility...that would take fire from men because it burns, and water because one may drown in it; that has no remedy for evils, except destruction of liberty. The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes...such laws serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
Patrick Henry said,
Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. When you give up that force, you are eventually ruined."
The great object is that every man be armed and everyone who is able may have a gun." This is from the Virginia Accord on Ratification.
Are we at last brought to such 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 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?"
Alexander Hamilton said,
"...but if circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude, that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people, while there is a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in discipline and use of arms, who stand ready to defend their rights..."
The best we can hope for, concerning the people at large, is that they be properly armed.
John Adams said, "Arms in the hands of individual citizens may be used at individual discretion...in private self-defense."
Daniel Webster said, "Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters."
James Madison said,
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."
"No free government was ever founded, or ever preserved its liberty, without uniting the characters of citizen and soldier in those destined for the defense of the State. Such are a well regulated Militia, composed of the freeholders, citizen, and individuals, and their rights as freemen."
"Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation."
"...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."
Tench Coxe said,
"The power of the sword is in the hands of Congress? My friends and countrymen, it is not so; for the powers of the sword are in the hands of the yeomanry of America from sixteen to sixty. 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? They are not ourselves as politicians and lawmakers. They are those who have elected us into our positions and entrusted us with the power of the sword is not in the hands of either the Federal or State government, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain in the hands of the people."
"As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize...the people are confirmed by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms."
...as the military forces which must be occasionally raised...might pervert their power to injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms."
Noah Webster said, "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 bands of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States."
Samuel Adams said, "And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms..."
Abraham Lincoln said,
"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it."
We, the people are the rightful masters of both congress and the courts-not to overthrow the constitution, but to overthrow men who pervert the constitution."
Mohandas K. Gandhi said,
"Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good."
"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."
Machiavelli said in "The Discourses", "If you want to have a large population and to provide it with arms so as to establish a great empire, you will have made your population such that you cannot handle it as you please."
Justice George Tucker of the Virginia Supreme Court in 1803 said, "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 limits possible. Whenever standing armies are kept up, and 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."
Justice Joseph Story, US Supreme Court (1811-1845) said, "The militia is the natural defense of a free country against sudden foreign invasions, domestic insurrections, and domestic usurpation's of powers by rulers. It is against sound policy for a free people to keep up large military establishments and standing armies in time of peace, both from the enormous expense with which they are attended, and the facile means which they afford to ambitious and unprincipled rulers, to subvert the government, or trample upon the rights of the people. The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of the republic, since it offers a strong moral check against usurpation and arbitrary power of the rulers; and will generally, even if those are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them."
The Texas Supreme Court Decision in the case of Cockrun v Texas in 1859 wrote in their majority opinion:
"The right of a citizen to bear arms, in lawful defense of himself or the State, is absolute. He does not derive it from the State government. It is one of the "High Powers" delegated directly to the citizen by the United States Constitution, Amendment II, and is excepted out of the general powers of government."
"a law cannot be passed to infringe upon it or impair it, because it is above the law, and independent of the law-making power."
Justice William O. Douglas said, "As night does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains unchanged. And it is in that twilight that we must be most aware of the change in the air-however slight; lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness."
L. Neil Smith, in "The Probability Broach" said, "People who object to weapons aren't abolishing violence, they're begging for rule by brute force, where the biggest, strongest animals among men were always automatically right. Guns ended that, and social democracy is a hollow farce without an armed populace to make it work."
Justice Louis Brandeis said in his opinion from Olmstead v US in the Supreme Court, 1928 wrote, "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."
Winston Churchill said, "If you will not fight for the 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 the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as a slave."
Walter Mondale, former Vice-President of the United States and US Ambassador to Japan said in April 1994, "Gun bans don't disarm criminals, gun bans attract them."
Bob Dornan, formerly of the US House of Representatives said in January 1995, "...the second amendment is not for killing little ducks and leaving Huey and Dewey and Louie without an aunt and uncle. It is for hunting politicians...when they take your independence away."
Walter Williams, Professor of Economics at George Mason University said, "Today's liberals wish to disarm us so they can run their evil and oppressive agenda on us. The fight against crime is just a convenient excuse to further their agenda. I don't know about you, but if you hear that Williams' guns have been taken, you'll know Williams is dead."
Opposing Views to The Second Amendment
Adolf Hitler said in 1935, "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!"
Heinrich Himmler said in 1935, "Ordinary citizens don't need guns, as their having guns doesn't serve the State."
President William Jefferson Clinton said during the March 1, 1993 press conference in Piscataway, New Jersey (reported by the Boston Globe, 3/2/93) "(the US) can't be so fixed on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans..."
Howard Metzenbaum, former Senator, said in 1994, "I don't care about crime, I just want to get the guns."
Discussion about the Second Amendment
This discussion was written by Jim Eason for distribution while working for KSFO Radio, San Francisco, California in August 1997.
Does the Second Amendment apply only to National Guard units? The National Guard was not organized in the United States until 112 years AFTER the Second Amendment was written. The original intent of the Second Amendment was to ensure the individual right of citizens to keep and bear arms. The freedom to own and carry a weapon is a fundamental, guaranteed Constitutional right. It even precedes the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Any attempt to alter that is an attempt to overthrow the Constitution. The idea that the right to arms was linked only to militia duty, and not to the individual right of self defense, is a modern one. The earliest court decisions-Kentucky in 1822, Indiana in 1833, and Georgia in 1837, to name a few-recognized an individual right to arms. The Georgia Supreme Court noted the Second Amendment protected "the right of the whole in 1905 did a Kansas court propose the idea that the right to bear arms was meant only to protect the organized state militia. The right to arms clause was very important to the Americans demanding a Bill of Rights. The framers who answer entirely different critics, were seeking an entirely different principle. Very few ANTI-gunners would really want to restore the militia system, which made gun ownership mandatory. Their claims actually seek to defeat both portions of the Second Amendment.