Quotes - Page 4

""Almost every free State affords an Instance of a NATIONAL MILITIA: For Freedom cannot be maintained without Power; and Men who are not in a Capacity to defend their Liberties, will certainly lose them.""

Quote by English Treatise on Militia (1753) on quote

""The chief purport of these amendments was the annexation to the Constitution of a more specific bill of rights. By them were secured to the people freedom of religion, of speech and of the press; the right of petition; the private right to bear arms; immunity from unreasonable search or seizure, arbitrary arrest, the taking of private property without just compensation, and the quartering of soldiers in private houses.""

Quote by 1915 Educational Text on bill of rights

""Unfortunately, there have been, and are, in the world, very few governments in which the right of passive or unarmed resistance is acknowledged. By most governments, such resistance is considered and treated as no better than open rebellion, which thus becomes the sole resource of oppressed subjects.""

Quote by Richard Hildreth on unarmed resistance

""Finally, the adjective 'well-regulated' implies nothing more than the imposition of proper discipline and training. See Johnson 1619 ('Regulate': 'To adjust by rule or method'); Rawle 121–122; cf. Va. Declaration of Rights §13 (1776), in 7 Thorpe 3812, 3814 (referring to 'a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people,'""

Quote by Supreme Court on heller decision

""THE MILITIA IS THE NATURAL DEFENCE OF A FREE COUNTRY AGAINST SUDDEN FOREIGN INVASIONS, DOMESTIC INSURRECTIONS AND DOMESTIC USURPATIONS OF POWER BY RULERS. IT IS AGAINST SOUND POLICY FOR A FREE PEOPLE TO KEEP UP LARGE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENTS AND STANDING ARMIES IN TIME OF PEACE BOTH FROM THE ENORMOUS EXPENSES WITH WHICH THEY ARE ATTENDED AND THE FACILE MEANS WHICH THEY AFFORD TO AMBITIOUS AND UNPRINCIPLED RULERS TO SUBVERT THE GOVERNMENT OR TRAMPLE UPON THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE. THE RIGHT OF THE CITIZENS TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS HAS JUSTLY BEEN CONSIDERED AS THE PALLADIUM OF THE LIBERTIES OF A REPUBLIC SINCE IT OFFERS A STRONG MORAL CHECK AGAINST THE USURPATION AND ARBITRARY POWER OF RULERS AND WILL GENERALLY EVEN IF THESE ARE SUCCESSFUL THE FIRST INSTANCE ENABLE THE PEOPLE TO RESIST AND TRIUMPH OVER THEM.""

Quote by Justice Joseph Story on palladium of liberty

""Rights of the Citizen declared to be— liberty of conscience in matters of religion. Amendment, 1 26; freedom of speech and of the press 1 26; to assemble and petition 1 26; to keep and bear arms 2 26; to be exempt from the quartering of soldiers, in any house, in time of peace, without the consent of the owner...""

Quote by 1828 Congressional Rules on rights enumeration

""XIII. That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and the state; and as standing armies in the time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; And that the military should be kept under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.""

Quote by Pennsylvania Constitution (1776) on quote

""On every occasion [of Constitutional interpretation] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying [to force] what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, [instead let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed.""

Quote by Thomas Jefferson on constitutional interpretation

""The right to keep and bear arms has become controversial in the late twentieth century, yet for much of our history the right was extolled as a fundamental cornerstone of American liberty and one that could not be denied free people. This widespread agreement occurred in part because of the frontier conditions that existed from the colonial period through much of the nineteenth century. The role of privately owned arms in achieving American independence, particularly in the early years of the Revolution, strengthened this consensus.""

Quote by Historical Analysis on second amendment context

""THE SUPPOSED QUIETUDE OF A GOOD MAN ALLURES THE RUFFIAN; WHILE ON THE OTHER HAND, ARMS LIKE LAWS DISCOURAGE AND KEEP THE INVADER AND PLUNDERER IN AWE, AND PRESERVE ORDER IN THE WORLD AS WELL AS PROPERTY. THE SAME BALANCE WOULD BE PRESERVED WERE ALL THE WORLD 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.""

Quote by Thomas Paine on arms as deterrent

""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... The right of 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 be always possible.""

Quote by Hubert Humphrey on modern perspective

""ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT AN ARMED AND TRAINED MILITIA IS THE FIRMEST BULWARK OF REPUBLICS – THAT WITHOUT STANDING ARMIES THEIR LIBERTY CAN NEVER BE IN DANGER, NOR WITH LARGE ONES SAFE.""

Quote by James Madison on militia as bulwark