A Right of the People.

"That the said Constitution shall never be 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

"... 'the people' seems to have been a term of art employed in select parts of the Constitution. The Preamble declares that the Constitution is ordained, and established by 'the people of the U.S.' The Second Amendment protects the right of the people to keep and bear Arms...." - Supreme Court of the U.S., U.S. v. Uerdugo-Uriquidez (1990).

"The states cannot, even laying the Constitutional provision out of view, prohibit the people from keeping and bearing arms so as to deprive the United States of their rightful resource for maintaining public security, and disable the people from performing their duty to general government." -- Supreme Court of the U.S., Presser v. Illinois (1886).

"Americans have a right and advantage of being armed -- unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." -- James Madison, The Federalist Papers No. 46 at 243-244.

"...our absolute obligation under the Constitution to give people the right to have a firearm..." -- President William Clinton, March 1, 1993 during a press conference in Piscataway, NJ

"The conclusion is thus inescapable that the history, concept, and wording of the Second amendment to the Constitution of the United States, as well as its interpretation by every major commentator and court in the first half-century after its ratification, indicates that what is protected is an individual right of a private citizen to own and carry firearms in a peaceful manner."
- Report of the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 97th Congress, Second Session ( February 1982 )

4. Schubert v. DeBard, 398 N.E.2d 1339, at 1341 (Ind. App. 1980) (motion to transfer denied 8-28-1980).
"We think it clear that our constitution provides our citizenry the right to bear arms for their self-defense."

Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms.... The right of the citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against the tyranny which now appears remote in America but which historically has proven to always be possible. -- Sen. Hubert Humphrey (1960)

When the subject of constitutional rights was brought up by a member of the pro-gun contingent, L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley replied "Yes, I'm denying you your rights." -- Mayor Tom Bradley at a "Save the Brady Bill" ralley. Steve Comus Western Outdoor News 09-04-92

"The people have a right to keep and to bear arms for the common defence." Part the First, Article XVII, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Constitution

As a liberal friend recently reminded me, some people are more equal than others...

"Anti-gun Rep. Stephen Solarz's bodyguards, recently arrested by Capitol police for illegally toting 9 mm semi-autos and assorted brass knuckles and blackjacks, weren't up to speed. Readers will recall that Sen. Edward Kennedy's bodyguard was toting a submachine gun when capitol police nabbed him in what the Massachusett's senator's office called a "technical" violation. New York's Solarz, like Kennedy, is a pernnial supporter of laws to disarm other people and a sponsor of this year's rendition of the Brady waiting period bill."
-- American Rifleman, April 1991, page 20

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