Handguns Quotes

• Owning a handgun doesn't make you armed any more than owning a guitar makes you a musician.

  Jeff Cooper

  Inspirational, Guitar, Owning A Home

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• Probably fewer than 2% of handguns and well under 1% of all guns will ever be involved in a violent crime. Thus, the problem of criminal gun violence is concentrated within a very small subset of gun owners, indicating that gun control aimed at the general population faces a serious needle-in-the-haystack problem.

  Gary Kleck

  Gun, Criminals, Population

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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.

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• 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

  Army, Gun, Power

  Noah Webster (1787). “An Examination Into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution Proposed by the Late Convention Held at Philadelphia: With Answers to the Principal Objections that Have Been Raised Against the System”, p.43

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• I think we can provide common-sense approaches to the issue of illegal guns that are ending up on the streets. We can make sure that criminals don't have guns in their hands. We can make certain that those who are mentally deranged are not getting a hold of handguns. We can trace guns that have been used in crimes to unscrupulous gun dealers that may be selling to straw purchasers and dumping them on the streets.

  Barack Obama

  Thinking, Gun, Issues

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• By calling attention to 'a well regulated militia,' 'the security of the nation,' and the right of each citizen 'to keep and bear arms,' our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy... The Second Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason I believe the Second Amendment will always be important.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Father, Military

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• When the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British parliament was advised by an artful man [Sir William Keith], 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 to weaken them and let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia.

  George Mason

  Men, Gun, America

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

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• There is no reason for anyone in the country, for anyone except a police officer or a military person, to buy, to own, to have, to use, a handgun. The only way to control handguns use in this country is to prohibit the guns. And the only way to do that is to change the Constitution.

  Michael Gartner

  Change, Country, Military

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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

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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.

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• Every year, an average of 9,200 Americans are murdered by handguns, according to Department of Justice statistics. This does not include suicides or the tens of thousands of robberies, rapes and assaults committed with handguns. This level of violence must be stopped.

  Ronald Reagan

  Suicide, Gun, Average

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• The NRA is right...handgun controls do little to stop criminals from obtaining handguns.

  Josh Sugarmann

  Gun, Criminals, Rifles

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• We have to start with a ban on the manufacturing and import of handguns. From there we register the guns which are currently owned, and follow that with additional bans and acquisitions of handguns and rifles with no sporting purpose.

  Major Owens

  Gun, Rifles, Acquisition

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• My guess [is] . . . that the great majority of Americans are saying they favor gun control when they really mean gun banishment. . . . I think the country has long been ready to restrict the use of guns, except for hunting rifles and shotguns, and now I think we're prepared to get rid of the damned things entirely - the handguns, the semis and the automatics.

  Roger Rosenblatt

  Country, Mean, Gun

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• We would just go out and line up a bunch of cans and shoot with rifles, handguns and at times, submachine guns... When I was a kid it was a controlled atmosphere, we weren't shooting at humans... we were shooting at cans and bottles mostly. I will most certainly take my kids out for target practice.

  Johnny Depp

  Kids, Gun, Practice

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• Every man, woman, and responsible child has an unalienable individual, civil, Constitutional, and human right to obtain, own, and carry, openly or concealed, any weapon - rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything - any time, any place, without asking anyone's permission.

  L. Neil Smith

  Children, Men, Rifles

  "The Atlanta Declaration". lneilsmith.org. September 1987.

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• Handguns are a public health issue.

  Joycelyn Elders

  Issues, Health Issues, Public Health

  "Elders makes assault on guns". USA Today, November 09, 1993.

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• I shortly will introduce legislation banning the sale, manufacture or possession of handguns (with exceptions for law enforcement and licensed target clubs)... . It is time to act. We cannot go on like this. Ban them!

  John Chafee

  Gun, Law, Clubs

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• During waves of terror attacks, Israel's national police chief will call on all concealed-handgun permit holders to make sure they carry firearms at all times, and Israelis have many examples where concealed permit holders have saved lives.

  John R. Lott Jr.

  Gun, Israel, Terror Attacks

  "John Lott: Should a Web Site Post Best Ideas for Successful Terrorist Plots?". www.foxnews.com. August 14, 2007.

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• With the right to bear arms comes a great responsibility to use caution and common sense on handgun purchases.

  Ronald Reagan

  Responsibility, Gun, Common Sense

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• You have a 45mm automatic pistol on your lap, and I have a 35mm camera on my lap, and my weapon is just as powerful as yours. (To Black Panther militant Eldridge Cleaver)

  Gordon Parks

  Photography, Powerful, Gun

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• The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.

  Wayne LaPierre

  Gun, Guy, Important

  National Rifle Association Press Conference Announcing "National School Shield" Program Following the Newton, Connecticut Shootings, delivered 21 December 2012

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• To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.

  George Washington

  Inspirational, Leadership, Motivation

  1790 First Annual Address, 8 Jan.

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• 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

  Government, Self, People

  Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison (2018). “America's Founding Documents: The Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the United States Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and the Bill of Rights”, p.199, First Avenue Editions

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• The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Gun, Rights, People

  "The Federalist Papers". Book by Alexander Hamilton, essay No. 69, 1787 - 1788.

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