Amendment 1 Quotes:

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.

- James Madison

source: James Madison, Gaillard Hunt, James Brown Scott (1999). “The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787: Which Framed the Constitution of the United States of America”, p.690, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.

topic: Gun, Libertarian Party, Assault Weapons, Fifth Amendment, Militia

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

- George Mason

topic: People, Liberty, Libertarian, Founding, 2 Amendment

A strong body makes the mind strong.

- Thomas Jefferson

topic: Strong, Exercise, Mind, Mind Games, Mind And Body

The prohibition is general. No clause in the Constitution could by any rule of construction be conceived to give to Congress a power to disarm the people. Such a flagitious attempt could only be made under some general pretense by a state legislature. But if in any blind pursuit of inordinate power, either should attempt it, this amendment may be appealed to as a restraint on both.

- William Rawle

source: William Rawle (1829). “A view of the Constitution of the United States of America”, p.125

topic: Gun, Power, Giving, State Legislatures, Disarming

Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.

- Louis D. Brandeis

source: Olmstead v. United States (dissenting opinion) (1928)

topic: Freedom, Men, Evil, Beneficence, Lurking

...that standing army can never be formidable (threatening) to the liberties of the people, while there is a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in the use of arms.

- Alexander Hamilton

topic: Army, Gun, People, Militia, Right To Bear Arms

The people have a right to keep and bear arms.

- Patrick Henry

topic: Gun, People, Arms, Nra, Handguns

First Amendment freedoms are most in danger when the government seeks to control thought or to justify its laws for that impermissible end. The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought.

- Anthony Kennedy

source: Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234, 2002.

topic: Thinking, Government, Law, Freedom To Read, First Amendment

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.

- James Madison

topic: Military, Government, Europe, Disarming, Framers

If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.

- William J. Brennan

source: "Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397". 1989.

topic: Expression, Ideas, Government, Liberty Of Speech, Flag Burning

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

topic: Law, Support, Fundamentals, Militia, Amendment 1

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State.

- Thomas Jefferson

topic: Religious, Wall, Lying, Religious Faith, State Government

The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world not destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside ... Horrid mischief would ensue were one half the world deprived of the use of them ... the weak will become prey to the strong.

- Thomas Paine

topic: Strong, Gun, Balance, Pro Gun, Balance Of Power

Arms, like laws, discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe and preserve order...

- Thomas Paine

topic: Gun, Order, Law, Patriotic Gun, Militia

I ask you sir, who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people.

- George Mason

topic: Gun, People, Gun Control, 2 Amendment, Highs And Lows

The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.

- Thomas Jefferson

topic: Gun Control, People, Southern, Strong Arms, Pro Gun

Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man gainst his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American

- Tench Coxe

topic: Men, Soldier, Arms, Birthright, 2 Amendment

Experience teaches us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent.

- Louis D. Brandeis

topic: Government, Liberty, Purpose, Justice Truth, Law Courts

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

topic: Men, Law, May, Limited Government, Founding

If gun laws in fact worked, the sponsors of this type of legislation should have no difficulty drawing upon long lists of examples of criminal acts reduced by such legislation. That they cannot do so after a century and a half of trying - that they must sweep under the rug the southern attempts at gun control in the 1870-1910 period, the northeastern attempts in the 1920-1939 period, the attempts at both Federal and State levels in 1965-1976 - establishes the repeated, complete and inevitable failure of gun laws to control serious crime.

- Orrin Hatch

source: "The Right to Keep and Bear Arms - Report of the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary". Book by Dennis DeConcini and Orrin Hatch, February 1982.

topic: Gun, Law, Drawing, Pro Gun, 2 Amendment

I can't tell Black people to fight a war that is Israel's war. What kind of leader will you be, or should I be, to allow these babies Black, white and brown, to fight Israel's war, because Zionists dominate the government of the United States of America and her banking system.

- Louis Farrakhan

topic: Baby, Religious, War, State Government, Deist

Wherever standing armies are kept up, and when 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.

- St. George Tucker

source: William Blackstone, St. George Tucker (1996). “Blackstone's Commentaries: With Notes of Reference to the Constitution and Laws, of the Federal Government of the United States, and of the Commonwealth of Virginia: With an Appendix to Each Volume, Containing Short Tracts Upon Such Subjects as Appeared Necessary to Form a Connecte”, p.300, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.

topic: Army, Gun, Color, 2 Amendment, Patriotic Gun

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

source: "A Defence of the Constitutions of Government". Book by John Adams. Chapter 3: "Marchamont Nedham: Errors of Government and Rules of Policy", Sixth Rule, 1787.

topic: Men, Self, Hands, Demolish, 2 Amendment

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

topic: Government, Self, People, Handguns, Recourse

A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive.

- Noah Webster

topic: Military, Law, People, Military Force, 2 Amendment

The whole of the Bill [of Rights] is a declaration of the right of the people at large or considered as individuals... It establishes some rights of the individual as unalienable and which consequently, no majority has a right to deprive them of.

- Albert Gallatin

topic: Rights, People, Majority, Individual Liberty, Individual Rights

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 ensure peace, security, and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable.... The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference; they deserve a place of honor with all that's good... A free people ought to be armed.

- George Washington

topic: Gun, People, Evil, Pro Gun, Right To Bear Arms

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.

- Elbridge Gerry

source: House of Representatives, Amendments to the Constitution, August 17, 1789.

topic: Freedom, Mean, Army, Invading, Militia

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

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

topic: Men, Gun, America, Handguns, Disarming

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

- Benjamin Franklin

topic: Inspirational, Happiness, Peace, Social Democracy, Power Corruption

If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.

- Louis D. Brandeis

source: Whitney v. California (concurring opinion) (1927) See OliverWendell Holmes, Jr. 29

topic: Evil, Silence, Speech, Freedom Of Expression, Free Expression

Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in 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?

- Patrick Henry

source: "The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution: Volume 3". Book by Jonathan Elliot, 1836.

topic: Real, Hands, Differences, Handguns, Propriety

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? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom. Congress has no power to disarm the militia.

- Tench Coxe

source: The Pennsylvania Gazette, February 20, 1788.

topic: Gun, Second Amendment, Arms, Birthright, 2 Amendment

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

source: 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

topic: Army, Europe, Law, Handguns, Pretense

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

topic: Being Strong, Nature, Character, Mind Games, Mind And Body

The great object is that every man be armed.

- Patrick Henry

topic: Men, Gun, Second Amendment, 2 Amendment, Patriotic Gun

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

- Thomas Jefferson

topic: Strength, Wisdom, Veterans Day, Social Revolution, Manure

Is the relinquishment of the trial by jury and the liberty of the press necessary for your liberty? Will the abandonment of your most sacred rights tend to the security of your liberty? Liberty, the greatest of all earlthy blessings - give us that precious jewel, and you may take every things else! . . . Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel.

- Patrick Henry

source: Virginia's U.S. Constitution ratification convention, June 5, 1788.

topic: Freedom, Jealous, Blessing, Individual Liberty, Guards Up

That the said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press or the rights of conscience.

- John Adams

topic: Gun, Rights, Second Amendment, 2 Amendment, Police Protection

Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest.

- Mahatma Gandhi

topic: Inspirational, Gun, Political, Misdeeds, Pro Gun

The militia is the natural defense of a free country against sudden foreign invasions, domestic insurrections, and domestic usurpation of power by rulers. 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 the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally ... enable the people to resist and triumph over them.

- Joseph Story

source: Joseph Story (1833). “Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States, Before the Adoption of the Constitution”, p.708

topic: Country, Strong, People, Insurrection, 2 Amendment

Militias, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves and include all men capable of bearing arms. [...] 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

topic: Gun, Men, People, Strong Arms, Militia

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

- Richard Henry Lee

source: Richard Henry Lee, Mercy Otis Warren (1962). “An Additional number of letters from the Federal farmer to the Republican, leading to a fair examination of the system of government, proposed by the late Convention: to several essential and necessary alterations in it; and calculated to illustrate and support the principles and positions laid down in the preceding letters. Together with Oberservations on the new Constitution, and on the Federal and State Conventions by a Columbian patriot”

topic: 4th Of July, Men, People, Strong Arms, Amendment 1