"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government." - George Washington

"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

"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." (Quoting Cesare Beccaria) - Thomas Jefferson

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty." - Thomas Jefferson

"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, Annals of Congress

"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."- Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts

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

"A militia 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 people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them." - Senator Richard Henry Lee

"Oppressors can tyrannize only when they achieve a standing army, an enslaved press, and a disarmed populace." - James Madison

"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

"The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms like laws discourage and keep the invader and the 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 deprived the use of them." - Thomas Paine

"The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun." - Patrick Henry

"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed." - Alexander Hamilton

"Arms in the hands of citizens (may) be used at individual discression... in private self-defense." - John Adams

"The Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms." - Samuel Adams

"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 Gandhi, in Gandhi, An Autobiography, p. 446

"History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subjected peoples to carry arms have prepared their own fall." - Adolf Hitler

"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity." - Sigmond Freud, General Introduction to Psychoanalysis

I agree 100% with all of those quotes. For pseudo-liberals who consider gun rights a "conservative cause", I think that Gandhi quote (Gandhi was a socialist) will be hard to answer, and Gandhi was correct. I'm libertarian myself (small l), so this quote comes to mind:

"Anyone who thinks that government- any government -has the right to
disarm its citizens is not a libertarian." - David F. Nolan

He is one of the founders of the Libertarian Party and the person after whom the famous Nolan Chart is named. Learn to love 'em, statists:

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"I am a Tory Anarchist. I should like every one to go about doing just as he pleased- short of altering any of the things to which I have grown accustomed." (Max Beerbohm)

Unfortunately, some of those quotes are bogus.

The first Jefferson quote and the John Adams quote:
http://www.guncite.com/gc2ndbog.html

The Jefferson quote is false; the Adams quote is jumbled to twist his meaning, which was basically that armed citizenry should be well-regulated to prevent misuse and mob violence.

I haven't dug into more of them. But beware of false quotes.

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Man up.

Regardless of who said them, I agree with them.

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"I am a Tory Anarchist. I should like every one to go about doing just as he pleased- short of altering any of the things to which I have grown accustomed." (Max Beerbohm)

Regardless, both Jefferson and Adams fully supported the right to bear arms and the right of self-defense. Adams did want the armed militia regulated - but did make exceptions for self-defense - meaning guns could be used at will for self-defense. So obviously, they could not be regulated to the point of not allowing people to have one at all times for potential self-defense. His quote seems to be something of a contradiction.

Well perhaps you could make that point with accurate quotes, then.

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Man up.

"None but an armed nation can dispense with a standing army. To keep ours armed and disciplined is therefore at all times important, but especially so at a moment when rights the most essential to our welfare have been violated." --Thomas Jefferson to -----, 1803. ME 10:365

"For a people who are free and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security." --Thomas Jefferson: 8th Annual Message, 1808. ME 3:482

http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/...s/jeff1480.htm

And Adam's quote from your source above is proof of his support of the right to bear arms.

I knew you could do it. I just suggest you edit your list -- and notify whomever you got it from -- to eliminate the false quotes. Finding FF quotes in support of an armed citizenry is easy enough to do without also making some up.

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Man up.

Here is a quote that sums up my view of guns perfectly. It is just from a movie, but it is true nonetheless:

"A gun is a tool, Marion, no better or no worse than any other tool, an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that." (Alan Ladd in Shane)

Somewhere along the line, mainstream liberals got the idea that guns are inherently bad. It is absurd that supporting strict gun control is seen as "liberal". If supporting freedoms in matters that are not directly related to fiscal equality is liberal, then supporting gun rights is truly a liberal stance. I appreciate that the Democratic Freedom Caucus recognizes this. I would add that the nation's first gun control laws were racist Jim Crow laws designed to disarm African-Americans- unpardonable and extremely illiberal policies.

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"I am a Tory Anarchist. I should like every one to go about doing just as he pleased- short of altering any of the things to which I have grown accustomed." (Max Beerbohm)

Those quotes really put things into perspective. We live in a time where the threat of being enslaved by empires is no longer valid. Also, around the 1800s, property was mainly rural, police forces were not prominant, people had slaves to control, and vigilante justice was not frowned upon, in those respects including a right to bear arms was a wise procaution. If the US Bill of Rights were to be drafted today, then I would expect to see no mention (or no consideration) of bearing arms or militias.

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"Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives." — John Stuart Mill