These are from my collection of sig quotes, collected from years of crawling about the Internet. Share and Enjoy...
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." -- Thomas Jefferson
"An armed society is a polite society" -- RAH
IF LIBERALS INTERPRETED THE 2ND AMENDMENT, THE WAY THEY DO THE FIRST,
CARRYING A GUN WOULD BE MANDATORY!
"If Sarah Brady, Ted Kennedy, Howard Metzenbaum and their ilk get their way, America will become "The land of the Fee and the home of the Slave".
Only criminals, tyrants and cowards have reason to fear the armed, honest citizen.
"The price of liberty is eternal vigilence. . . . No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." --Thomas Jefferson
"A new prince has never been known to disarm his subjects, on the contrary,
when he has found them disarmed he has always armed them, for by arming them
these arms become your own, those that you suspected become faithful and
those that were faithful remain so, and from being merely subjects become
your partisans. . . . But when you disarm them, you commence to offend them
and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence,
and both of these opinions generate hatred against you." The Prince, Niccolo Macchiavelli
"The House passage of our bill is a victory for this country! Common sense
wins out. I'm just so thrilled and excited. "The sale of guns must stop.
Halfway measures are not enough."
"Justice Department studies show that armed citizens are much less likely
to suffer losses or personal injury from thieves" -- Washington Post
1/7/92
"Last year, I surveyed the firearms used in violent crimes... assault-type
firearms were the least of our worries. It's really the .22 and .38-caliber
handguns and 12-gauge shotguns that inflict the majority of carnage."
An October 31, 1988 memo from S.C. Helsley, the then-Assistant Director of
the California DOJ Investigation and Enforcement Branch.
"An unarmed people are slaves, or subject to slavery at any moment." -- Huey
P. Newton.
"Fear a government that fears your guns"
In Chicago, 1988 saw more murderers using baseball bats than rifles. -- James
Jay Baker, before the US House of
Representatives, 11/1/89
"Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that
we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense?" -- Patrick Henry
"...hundreds of Korean storeowners in LA using handguns and shotguns to
successfully repel looters." -- ABC's Nightline TV-News program
"[ laws that forbid the carrying of arms ] disarm only those who are neither
inclined nor determined to commit crimes." -- Cesare Beccaria, 1764
"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 Debates & Proceedings in the Convention of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, pages 86-87."
If even one life can be saved by the presence of a firearm, it legally, morally
and ethically necessary for us to ensure the availability of such `emergency
rescue equipment'.
"All military type firearms are to be handed in immediately ... The SS, SA
and Stahlhelm give every respectable German man the opportunity of campaigning
with them. Therefore anyone who does not belong to one of the above named
organizations and who unjustifiably nevertheless keeps his weapon ... must
be regarded as an enemy of the national government." - SA Oberfuhrer of Bad
Tolz, March, 1933.
"Banning guns makes for great theater but it does nothing to address the
real problem of criminals and criminal behavior," -- New Jersey State Assemblyman
Frank LoBiondo
"Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or the SA - ordinary
citizens don't need guns, as their having guns doesn't serve the State."
-- Heinrich Himmler
"The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subjected
people to carry arms, history shows that all conquerors who have allowed
their subjected peoples to carry arms have prepared their own fall" -Adolph
Hitler, Edict of March 18, 1938.
Joe Congresscritter: "If you use an UZI for your drive-bys, we're going to
make it illegal for law-abiding citizens to own them."
Willie Steal: "Thank you sir, may I have another."
`Firearms have been around for over 400 years, yet it is only in the last
20 years that people have begun shouting "gun control". Why then, only recently,
has this become such an issue? Moreover, why are there more mass-murderers
than at any other time in our known history? It is not because weapons are
more powerful -- 200-year-old muzzleloaders have a much greater force-per-round
than today's "assault rifles". It is not because weapons are semi- or
fully-automatic -- rapid-fire weapons have been available for most of the
last century. It is not due to a lack of laws -- we have more "gun control"
laws than ever. It IS, however, because we have chosen to focus on "gun control"
instead of crime control or "thug control." It IS because only recently has
the public become complacent enough to accept, by inaction, the violence
present in our society.' - Kevin Langston, Tuesday, 29 October, 1991
"Indeed, I am now of the opinion that a compelling case for "stricter gun
control" cannot be made, at least not on empirical grounds. I have nothing
but respect for the various pro-gun control advocates with whom I have come
in contact over the past years. They are, for the most part, sensitive, humane
and intelligent people, and their ultimate aim, to reduce death and violence
in our society, is one that every civilized person must share. I have, however,
come to be convinced that they are barking up the wrong tree." -- James Wright,
"The Gun Control Debate: You Decide"
"The NRA is right...handgun controls do
little to stop criminals from obtaining handguns." -- Josh Sugarman, former
communications director for the Coalition Against Gun Violence
"25 States allow anyone to buy a gun, strap it on, and walk down the street
with no permit of any kind: some say it's crazy. However, 4 out of 5 US murders
are committed in the other half of the country: so who is crazy?" -- Andrew
Ford
"It's been hard to argue against such great visuals" Legislative Director
Jeff Muchnick, National Coalition to Ban Handguns on the LA riots.
"Those who beat their swords into plowshares will plow for those who don't."
"Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion . . .
in private self-defense." -- John Adams
"A well schooled electorate, being necessary to the security of a free state,
the right of the people to keep and read Books, shall not be infringed."
"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches
that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force.
Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined." -- Patrick Henry
"There are going to be situations where people are going to go without
assistance. That's just the facts of life." ex-LA Chief of Police, Gates.
First they stole the forth amendment.
I said nothing because I don't deal drugs.
Then they took the sixth amendment.
I was silent because I know I'm not guilty.
When they came for the second amendment,
I kept quiet because I don't own a gun.
Now they've come for the first amendment,
and I can't say anything at all.
Sarah Brady, Space Nut part 3, " The rights of the criminals outweigh the
rights of the law abiding citizens, unless you ara a politician, and the
law doesn't apply to them".
Sung with screaming guitars in the background:
"Sarah Brady raped my mother
Killed my father and my brother
Took away their means of defense
Might as well have done the offense
Sarah Brady raped my mother
Raped my mother, raped my mother"
How many gun control advocates does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Answer: They don't do that; they pass laws against burned-out bulbs, and
then they wonder why it's still so dark. Meanwhile, a lot of people get hurt
because they can't see.
"We're going to have to take one step at a time, and the first step is
necessarily, given political realities, going to be very modest. Our ultimate
goal, total control of handguns in the United States, is going to take time.
The first problem is to slow down the increasing number of handguns in this
country. The second problem is to get handguns registered, and the final
problem is to make the possession of all handguns, and all handgun ammunition
illegal!"
-Nelson T. Shields of
Hangun Control,
Inc. as quoted in `New Yorker' magazine July 26, 1976. Page 53f
"Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the
people's liberty's teeth." -- Gen. George Washington, Continental Army (Ret.)
"People here live in fear of 'pistoleros', but they also live under the daily
stress...of an insensitive government". --Miguel Corral Olivas, former mayor
of Ciudad Juarez, Republic of Mexico: a nation with strict gun-control laws.
We have four boxes used to guarantee our liberty:
The soap box, the ballot box, the jury box and the cartridge box
My gun is safer than Ted Kennedy's car.
"The first thing you have to do is disarm the people. A disarmed public can't
fight back" -- Adolf Hitler
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 2nd amendment was never intended to allow private citizens to 'keep
and bear arms'. If it had, there would have been wording such as
'the right of
the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.'" -- Ken
Konecki on Usenet, on 27 Jul 1992
"A right delayed is a right denied?" -- Martin Luther King jr.
Just say no to waiting periods.
There's a lot of stupidity out there. Many gun control laws seem really
pointless. I can't have a handgun in the city, but I can have an elephant
rifle. Guns with bayonet mounts are outlawed---as if there has been a rash
of bayonettings! Then, when the bayonet lugs are removed, people get outraged
when they see that it's really the same gun. You'd think they'd realize this
proves the original law was stupid! A lot of people who scream for more gun
control have no idea what the existing laws are like.
There's a big double standard. Senators and mayors tell me I don't need a
gun from behind walls of armed bodyguards. Protecting my family is not an
acceptable reason to own a gun, but protecting the life of some rich guy's
family --- because he hires me as a bodyguard -- is. I'm told I don't need
a gun by police officers who wear a gun every day even though they have a
desk job.
"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.
"The right of the people to keep and bear... arms shall not be infringed.
A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to
arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country..." --- James
Madison, I Annals of Congress 434, 8 June 1789
Sarah Brady of
HCI, quoted
in the January 1992 issue of Crimebeat magazine:
"I am certainly not anti-gun by any means. I even enjoy shooting a gun myself.
I believe that they can have value for certain things, such as self-defense..."
Dr. Joyce Brothers, the pop psychologist,has claimed that firearms ownership
is indicative of male sexual inadequacy. Her husband has pistol permit.
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times, has a NYC
pistol permit. The Times has an editorial policy against private handgun
ownership.
"Hey, if your daughter is carved on while being raped it's OK, as long as
a handgun isn't used. You've really captured the essence of what I was saying."
-- Daniel William Roth
(kato@leland.stanford.edu)
"But even if a ban [on handguns] is instituted I think that superior people
such as myself should be allowed to have them." -- Daniel William Roth
(kato@leland.stanford.edu)
"...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
"An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have
to back up his acts with his life." -- "Beyond This Horizon" by Robert
Heinlein, 1942
"See, the gun-control
folks are quite happy with ANY progress in their direction, they know
they can come back next year. But any freedom lost for the firearm rights
folks is a freedom lost forever, and they can only wait and see what they
will lose next."
"You need the will to disarm the civilian population. If we can do it in
Somalia, we can do it here." -- Mary McGrory, Arizona Daily Star,
3/11/93 p. A16.
"The police of a state should never be stronger or better armed than the
citizenry. An armed citizenry, willing to fight, is the foundation of civil
freedom." --"Beyond This Horizon" by Robert Heinlein, 1942
"A well-educated electorate being necessary to the prosperity of a free
state, the right of the people to keep and read books, shall not be
infringed." Do you believe that restricting people to one book purchase
per month would prevent libel and slander?
"If gun laws in fact worked, the sponsors of this type of legislation should
have no difficulty drawing upon long lists of examples of crime rates 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, 1982 Senate Report
"No, we're not looking at how to control criminals ... we're talking about
banning the AK-47 and semi-automatic guns." -- Sen. Howard Metzenbaum
When only the police have guns, it's called a Police State.
"Quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est." [A sword never
kills anybody; it's a tool in the killer's hand.] -- Seneca (the Younger),
_Letters to Lucilius_, c.63-65
"We do not have enough things to kill off the weak and the stupid these days.
But to stay alive as an armed citizen a man has to be either quick with his
wits or with his hands, preferably both. It's a good thing." -- "Beyond This
Horizon" by Robert Heinlein, 1942
"... '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).
"To disarm the people - that was the best and most effective way to enslave
them ...." - George Mason ( Framer of the Declaration of Rights, Virginia,
1776, which became the basis for the U.S. Bill of Rights ) 3 Elliot, Debate
at 380.
"[...] if the gun laws that Massachusetts has now had been in force in 1776,
we'd all be Canadians, and you know what kind of weather Canada has."
PARLIAMENT OF WHORES by P. J. O'Rourke
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) Liberal Icon & Patron Saint
Every good communist should know that political power grows out of the barrel
of a gun. -- Mao Tse Tung
"Only an armed people can be the real bulwark of popular liberty." -- V.
I. Lenin
Seen on a pickup in Arizona: China has gun control. Afghanistan doesn't.
Bumper sticker on a car with Virginia Plates: Buy One Gun A Month IT'S
THE LAW ! ! !
"Politicians Prefer Disarmed Peasants"
Criminals don't like it when victims shoot back.
Gun control is nothing more than victim disarmament.
I don't want my Second Amendment rights defined by people who have demonstrated
an outspoken hostility toward them (like Kennedy, Metzenbaum, or Schumer)
any more than I would want Jerry Falwell put in charge of Federal Family
Planning policy or David Duke appointed head of the Civil Rights Commission.
Seems like a basic "no-brainer" to me.... What part don't you understand?
Ann Richards, Governor of Texas, who admits carrying concealed pistol, but
recently vetoed a bill that would have allowed other women (and men) in Texas
to have the same means of self protection.
Anti-gun U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein -- who, while Mayor of San Francisco
during a "handgun ban" PR stunt, ostentatiously turned in one handgun. And
quietly kept her other one.
Anti-gun U.S. Senator Carol Moseley-Braun, a lawyer, who "doesn't know" whether
her .22 caliber pistol is registered in Chicago, as required. [BTW, that's
a crime ...]
Anti-gun columnist Carl Rowan, used an illegal handgun to shoot a skinny-
dipping teenager. He obtained the illegal pistol from his son, an FBI agent.
"Assault rifles have never been an issue in law enforcement. I have been
on this job for 25 years and I haven't seen a drug dealer carry one. They
are not used in crimes, they are not used against police officers." -- Trenton
NJ Deputy Chief of Police Joseph Constance
"The Militia comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert
for the common defense .... And ... these men were expected to appear bearing
arms supplied by themselves and of the kind in common use at the time." -
Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. v. Miller (1939).
"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).
"... '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).
Former-Governor Ann Richards of Texas joked about the CCW bill she vetoed, saying that no woman could find a gun in her purse before she was killed anyway.
For the record Former-Governor Richards has publicly stated that she carries a handgun in her purse, in violation of Texas state law.
"[The Brady Bill] is not going to stop crimes of passion or drug related
crime" -- Sarah Brady
"Gun control is not a legitimate solution to crime... it nonetheless gives
gun control enthusiasts an issue to seize upon... The longer our lawmakers
distract themselves from this task by embracing the follies of gun control,
the more grim our crime situation will become, and the louder, in turn, will
be the call for more gun control. It is a vicious cycle which can only be
broken by education and by focusing on the real issues of crime. When we
accomplish that we can all breath a little easier." -- Congressman Jim Florio,
circa 1984
"Gun control is not a legitimate solution to crime..." -- Jim Florio, c.
1984
A BATF study (titled "Protecting America, Yes") surveyed 471 career criminals
and found that only 7% of guns used in violent crimes were purchased from
retail dealers.
A study by the BATF and Washington D.C. Police showed that 40% of all firearms
confiscated from criminals in Washington were stolen from the the Washington
Police -- (BATF, "Analysis of Operation CUE (Concentrated Urban Enforcement),"
interim report (Washington D.C., February 15, 1977), pp. 133-34).
"Mrs. Brady sees the
Brady bill
as the cornerstone of a serious gun control policy in America that will
eventually include more restrictions. That, of course, is why the
gun lobby opposes the bill despite its moderate
scope...." Page one article in the 9/15/1993 issue of the New York Times
entitled, "What Can The Brady Bill Really Do?"
"The people have a right to keep and to bear arms for the common defence."
Part the First, Article XVII, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Consitution
ALCOHOL PROHIBITION Didn't Work; it CREATED more crime and violence.
DRUG PROHIBITION Doesn't Work; it CREATES more crime and violence.
GUN PROHIBITION Won't Work; it WILL CREATE more crime and violence.
"Apparently, on New Texas, killing a politician wasn't regarded as mallum
in se, and was mallum prohibitorum only to the extent that what
happened to the politician was in excess of what he deserved." - H. Beam
Piper, "A Planet For Texans/Lone Star Planet"
"I didn't see any NRA officials killing babies in Waco..." -- P. J. O'Rourke
If high-capacity semi-automatic pistols are only good for killing, shouldn't
President Clinton be worried about the Secret Service?
"When you start with an "allegation" that gun control law has been violated,
and you end up with nearly 100 people, including 25 children, killed, and
millions of taxpayers dollars down the drain, that's bad law enforcement
no matter how you slice it."
"The people of the various provinces are strictly forbidden to have in their
possession any swords, bows, spears, firearms, or other types of arms. The
possession of these elements make difficult the collection of taxes and dues,
and tends to permit uprising. Therefore, the heads of provinces, official
agents, and deputies are ordered to collect all the weapons mentioned above
and turn them over to the government." -- Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Shogun 29 August
1558
Gun control is based on the mypoic concept that criminal behavior is controlled
by laws. The only control that the law has on criminals is during that period
of time which the criminal spends locked up behind bars. Gun control is useless.
"I represent a state where gun control is how steady you hold your rifle."
- Sen. Alan Simpson
"Expecting a carjacker or rapist or drug pusher to care that his possession
or use of a gun is unlawful is like expecting a terrorist to care that his
car bomb is taking up two parking spaces." - Joseph T. Chew, in a
talk.politics.guns posting
"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." -- Mahatma
Ghandi
"My experience as a street cop suggests that most merchants should not have
guns. But I feel even stronger about the average person having them...most
homeowners...simply have no need to own guns." -- Joseph McNamara, San Jose,
CA ex-Police Chief, and HCI spokesman
"As much as I oppose the average person's having a gun, I recognize that
some people have a legitimate need to own one. A wealthy corporate executive
who fears his family might get kidnapped is one such person. A Hollywood
celebrity who has to protect himself from kooks is another. If Sharon Tate
had had access to a gun during the Manson killings, some innocent lives might
have been saved." -- Joseph D. McNamara (San Jose, CA ex-Police Chief, and
HCI spokesman),
Safe and Sane (book) ,1984, p. 71-72.
"It is DoD policy to encourage actively and support civilian rifle and pistol
marksmanship training as an important element of national defense." --Dept.
of Defense Directive 1025.1 [31 Jan. 1984]
In January 1993, 120 nations including the USA banned CS tear gas from use
in warfare. In April 1993, the US government used it against US citizens.
"...expert evidence was submitted establishing that approximately 75 percent
of BATF gun prosecutions were aimed at ordinary citizens who had neither
criminal intent nor knowledge, but were enticed by agents into unknowning
technical violations. (In one case, in fact, the individual was being prosecuted
for an act which the Bureau's acting director had stated was perfectly lawful.)"
-- 97th Congress, Subcommiitee report on RKBA
(camera pans to Linda Richards)
"I'm getting a bit verklempft. Topic for discussion. Prohibitive Gun control
in Washington DC vs minimal gun control in Alexandra VA. Why is DC's crime
rate 12 times higer than the city across the Potomac?
Discuss."
"In August of 1992, they gunned down Randy Weaver's son and wife, but I did
not speak up because I was not a white separatist. In the winter of 1993,
they shot up and burned alive almost 100 Branch Davidians, but I did not
speak up for I was not a cultist. Earlier, they came for our Nunchaku, but
I did not speak up because I was not a gang banger, and my police chief looks
the other way for me. I supported it when they went after Evil Assault Baby
Killing firearms, because I Am Not A Baby Killer. They won't come for me,
I am but a sheep. What's that smashing sound at my front door?"
Washington Post Sept. 2, 1988, D3, Chuck Conconi Personalities, Alongside
a William Colby photo
"Former CIA director William E. Colby and his wife, former ambassador Sally
Shelton, who have been quietly working for the past several years with the
National Colation to Ban Handguns, are opening their Georgetown home later
this month for a coalition fundraiser that will feature the music of 71-year-old
cabaret mouth organist Larry Adler. Colby has said he learned of the dangers
of handguns during his years at the CIA ..."
NRA life member John F.Kennedy was shot
by ACLU member Lee Harvey Oswald
Over 65 million american gun owners didn't hurt anyone today.
Life, Liberty and Happiness are nothing without the means to defend them.
Goon Control, not gun control
"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
"We must be able to arrest people before they commit crimes. By registering
guns and knowing who has them we can do that. ...If they have guns they are
pretty likely to commit a crime." - -Vermont State Senator Mary Ann Carlson
"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 )
"I especially want to thank you for standing by me on the day we say 'No'
to amateur gunslingers who somehow think they're going to be braver and smarter
with a gun in their hand." -- Former Texas Gov. Ann Ricards while vetoing
a CCW bill in the presence of a group of police officers as reported on page
10 of the March 6, 1994 "Voter's Guide" (Section Q) of the Dallas Morning
News
"Assault rifles are short, compact, select fire weapons that fire a cartridge
intermediate in power between submachine gun (pistol) and rifle catridges".
- US Department of Defense
"Since police started keeping statistics, we now know that assault weapons
are/were used in an underwhelming 0.026 of 1% of crimes in New Jersey. This
means that my officers are more likely to confront an escaped tiger from
the local zoo than to confront an assault rifle in the hands of a drug-crazed
killer on the streets." -- Joseph Constance (deputy chief of Trenton NJ police
dept) in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Aug 1993
POLICE CHIEFS HELD TO DOUBT GUN LAW
Washington, D.C. - Police chiefs believe that the Brady Law requiring a five-day
waiting period to buy guns will have little impact on criminals, according
to a poll published yesterday. Over 97 percent of the heads of law enforcement
agencies said criminals will still be able to obtain illegal weapons on the
street within hours on any day of the week. The survery of 3,241 police agency
heads, conducted by the National Association of Chiefs of Police, also found
about 97 percent believe empty military installations should be opened to
lock up the overflow of convicted felons. (Reuters) --The Boston Globe, page
9 * Friday, April 22, 1994
"They are designed to kill as many people as possibble." Assault weapons?
No, hands and feet. (Ex-)New York Gov. Mario Cuomo has joined the fight against
semi-automatic guns, but state crime figures show that his energy is being
misdirected. In 1992, the latest year for which detailed figures are available,
semi-automatic, large-capacity rifles killed 20 people in New York state,
That's 0.8 percent of the state's 2,394 murders. But hands and feet
beating and stomping accounted for 117 murders. That's nearly
six times the number caused by assault weapons. -- Reason Magazine, May 1994
pollster: "Are you for or against gun control?"
citizen: "I'm for it!"
[citizen draws and spins pistol.]
citizen: "And look...I'm getting pretty good at it too!"
-- by Wayne Stayskal of the Tampa Tribune.
"For target shooting, that's okay. Get a license and go to the range. For
defense of the home, that's why we have police departments." -- James Brady,
PARADE Magazine (June 26, 1994)
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear
arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
-- 1 Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 (C. J. Boyd, Ed., 1950).
Colin Greenwood, a former head of Scotland Yard, testified in 1974 that the
average criminal could obtain a handgun in the UK in less than 1 hour, at
a cost of less than 50 pounds. When asked what effect the UK weapons control
laws had on criminal access to arms, he replied "None".
"Trying to deal with our crime problem with a gun buy-back is like trying
to bail out the Titanic with a paper cup." -- James Alan Fox, dean of
Northeastern College of Criminal Justice -- Boston Globe 8/21/94
"A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves ... and
include all men capable of bearing arms." -- Richard Henry Lee, Senator,
First Congress (1788)
If the Government doesn't trust us with our guns, why should we trust them
with theirs?
"Gun control laws don't work. What is worse, they act perversely. While
legitimate users of firearms encounter intense regulation, scrutiny and
bureaucratic control, illicit markets easily adapt to whatever difficulties
a free society throws in their way. Also, efforts to curtail the supply of
firearms inflict collateral damage on freedom and privacy interests that
have long been considered central to American public life." Daniel Polsby,
"The False Promise of Gun Control" The Atlantic, March 1994
The CBS Evening News reported on April 26, 1994 that a new means of linking
crimes to individual guns revealed that the MAJORITY of the over-460 murders
in Washington DC in the previous 12 months were committed with only about
13 individual weapons.
"Over 97 percent of the heads of law enforcement agencies said criminals
will still be able obtain illegal weapons on the street within hours on any
day of the week." (Reuter News, April 22, 1994, Post Brady Act)
"No, the *really* funny part is that the bayonet lug is okay, as long as
you don't have along with it a grenade launcher, a folding stock, or a pistol
grip. Only combinations of *two or more* of these features are banned. If
instead your rifle has *only* a grenade launcher (or a pistol grip, or a
folding stock, or a bayonet lug), your rifle has the blessings of Congress
as being a friendly, non-banned, non-assault weapon. I am not making this
up." dcd@se.houston.geoquest.slb.com (Dan Day)
"Because it is relatively easy to identify guns using the bullets left in
a body, smart criminals use other weapons, or dispose of the firearms as
soon as possible." - LA County DA 1/24/95
``More than half of the manufacturers, distributors, and retailers we polled
had the best year in their company's history in 1994.'' said Bob Delfay,
president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
David Petzal, editor of Field & Stream, said he believed ``the industry
should erect a statue of Bill Clinton. He's sold more guns than anyone since
the 1950s.''
Oskar Schindler gave 41 semiautomatic rifles to Jewish workers near the end
of WWII. This was omitted from the movie.
"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 the constant companion of your walks." ---
Thomas Jefferson
"The usual road to slavery is that first they take away your guns, then they
take away your property, then last of all they tell you to shut up and say
you are enjoying it." -- James A. Donald
"Basically, they were shooting at a moving target that was jolting back and
forth in many different directions..It was very excitable and moving at a
very high rate of speed for a cow." -Irvine City Manager explaining 43 police
rounds fired into a cow discovered entering the 405 freeway (LA Times 11/11/93)
"The beauty of the second amendment is that it will not be needed until they
try to take it." -Thomas Jefferson
Prohibiting law-abiding people from owning guns because they might be stolen
by criminals is like prohibiting women from going out at night because they
might be raped.
Politicians prefer unarmed peasants without encryption technology...
"Blaming the gun for murder is like blaming the typewriter for libel"
PREVENT FOREST FIRES: Register Matches
"Gun bans don't disarm criminals, gun bans attract them." -- Walter Mondale,
U.S. Ambassador to Japan, 4/20/94
"If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an
outright ban, picking up every one of them, Mr. and Mrs. America turn 'em
all in, I would have done it." -Senator Diane Feinstein refering to what
she wished she could have done with regard to "assault weapons" (60 Minutes,
CBS, 5 Feb. 1995)
"Banning guns is an idea whose time has come." -- U.S. Senator Joseph Biden,
11/18/93, Associated Press interview
"Banning guns addresses a fundamental right of Americans to feel safe." --
U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein, quoted by AP, 11/18/93
"Until we can ban all of them [firearms], then we might as well ban none."
-- U.S. Senator Howard Metzenbaum, Senate Hearings 1993
"We're here to tell the NRA their nightmare is true..." -- U.S. Representative Charles Schumer, quoted on NBC, 11/30/93
"We're going to hammer guns on the anvil of relentless legislative strategy!
We're going to beat guns into submission!" -- U.S. Representative Charles
Schumer, quoted on NBC, 12/8/93
"My bill ... establishes a 6-month grace period for the turning in of all
handguns." -- U.S. Representative Major Owens, Congressional Record, 11/10/93
"With a 10,000% tax we could tax them out of existence." -- U.S. Senator
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Washington Post, 11/4/93
"If it were up to me we'd ban them all" -- U.S. Representative Mel Reynolds on CNN's Crossfire, 12/9/93
"What a crazy world we live in! Trying to treat addiction as a legal problem, and trying to treat criminal misbehaviors using guns as a medical problem! Beam me up, Scotty. Ain't no intelligent life down here." -- Julie Cochrane
Quote from a former head of the Secret Service, in response to Asst. Secy Ron Noble's suggestion to combine BATF with Customs and Secret Service: "Mix dirty water with clean water, you get dirty water."
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that knocking down the walls
of a wood frame structure that is being lit and heated be kerosene, and then
pumping it full of a tear gas that has been banned by the Geneva Conventions,
is not a smart thing to do if you have any concern for those inside the
building." -- Mark.O.Wilson@AtlantaGa.ncr.com
Part 2
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