Firearms Quotes

• Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself.

  George Washington

  Gun, Fake, Second Amendment

  289 Copy quote

• The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles.

  Jeff Cooper

  Men, Gun, Evil

  1687 Copy quote

• And, 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'd walk to the hospital when my husband was sick. I carried a concealed weapon. I made the determination that if somebody was going to try to take me out, I was going to take them with me.

  Dianne Feinstein

  Determination, Husband, Gun

  51 Copy quote

• Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. This is not to say that firearms should not be very carefully used and that definite safety rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, and one more safeguard against tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible.

  Hubert H. Humphrey

  Gun, America, Government

  "Know Your Lawmaker". Guns magazine, p. 4, February 1960.

  17 Copy quote

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  The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Strength, Wisdom, Veterans Day

  Letter to William Stephens Smith, 13 Nov. 1787

  227 Copy quote

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• You know, I've carried a weapon for 10 years, never shot anybody, never robbed anybody. It has saved my life twice, but I know they're not toys. I practice with firearms, I enjoy shooting, it's a hobby of mine and I have a healthy respect for them.

  Luke Scott

  Respect, Years, Practice

  10 Copy quote
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  To disarm the people... was the best and most effectual way to enslave them.

  George Mason

  Strength, Peace, Gun

  George Mason's address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 14, 1788.

  109 Copy quote

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• Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.

  Douglas MacArthur

  Military, Army, Warfare

  532 Copy quote
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  The Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms.

  Samuel Adams

  Gun, Strong Arms, People

  Debates of the Massachusetts Convention, 1788.

  98 Copy quote

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• The key fallacy of so called gun control laws is that such laws do not in fact control guns. They simply disarm law abiding citizens, while people bent on violence find firearms readily available.

  Thomas Sowell

  Gun, Keys, Law

  "The great gun control fallacy" by Thomas Sowell, www.theguardian.com. December 18, 2012.

  35 Copy quote

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• We're not interested in confiscating their guns, as long as they are legitimate gun owners, as long as they store them appropriately, transport them appropriately and so on...

  Anne McLellan

  Gun, Long, Stores

  7 Copy quote

• They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Inspirational, Happiness, Peace

  Benjamin Franklin, William-Temple Franklin (1818). “Memoirs of the Life and Writings of (the Same), Continued to the Time of His Death by William Temple Franklin. - London, H. Colburn 1818”, p.270

  180 Copy quote

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• You might be a redneck if when you leave your house, you are followed by federal agents of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, and the only thing you worry about is if you can lose them or not.

  Jeff Foxworthy

  Redneck, Worry, House

  7 Copy quote

• Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.

  Mao Zedong

  Military, Gun, Chinese Revolution

  Speech at sixth plenary session of Central Committee, Communist Party, Yan'an, China, 6 Nov. 1938

  101 Copy quote

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• ... immediately call on Congress to pass far-reaching industry regulation like the Firearms Safety and Consumer Protection Act ... [which] would give the Treasury Department health and safety authority over the gun industry, and any rational regulator with that authority would ban handguns.

  Josh Sugarmann

  Gun, Safety, Giving

  53 Copy quote

• Before the advent of Hitler or Stalin, who took their power from the German and the Russian people, measures were thrust upon the free legislatures of those countries to deprive the people of the possession and use of firearms, so that they could not resist the encroachments of such diabolical and vitriolic state police organizations as the Gestapo, the Ogpu, and the Cheka.

  Edwin Arthur Hall

  Country, Organization, People

  45 Copy quote

• Waiting periods are only a step. Registration is only a step. The prohibition of private firearms is the goal.

  Unknown

  Gun, Usa, Goal

  46 Copy quote

• No matter how one approaches the figures, one is forced to the rather startling conclusion that the use of firearms in crime was very much less when there were no controls of any sort and when anyone, convicted criminal or lunatic, could buy any type of firearm without restriction. Half a century of strict controls on pistols has ended, perversely, with a far greater use of this weapon in crime than ever before.

  Colin Greenwood

  Gun, Use, Half

  17 Copy quote

• First, the firearms industry has been around and has been respected for generations. They provide a valuable service and a highly desirable product to millions of sportsmen and supporters of those second amendment rights.

  Cliff Stearns

  Rights, Second Amendment, Generations

  7 Copy quote

• If I were to select a jack-booted group of fascists who are perhaps as large a danger to American society as I could pick today, I would pick BATF [the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms].

  John Dingell

  Gun, Alcohol, Today

  9 Copy quote

• I lost interest in firearms because we had a dog that was scared to death of the sound of a rifle shot.

  James Spader

  Dog, Rifles, Sound

  13 Copy quote

• When I was crossing the border into Canada, they asked if I had any firearms with me. I said, 'Well, what do you need?'

  Steven Wright

  Funny, Humorous, Borders

  10 Copy quote

• There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is, how do we arm the other 11?

  Nicolas Cage

  People, Twelve, Arms

  7 Copy quote

• I belong to quite a lot of learned societies. We collect firearms and discuss them at dinners and clubs and things.

  Michael Gambon

  Clubs, Dinner

  "Behind the scenes" by Geraldine Bedell, www.theguardian.com. February 28, 2004.

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• You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence.

  Charles A. Beard

  Life, Father, Struggle

  67 Copy quote