THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS

"The right of a citizen to keep and bear arms has justly been considered the palladium of the liberties of the Republic, since it offers a strong moral check against usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers, and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them."
--- Joseph Story, 1833 U.S. Supreme Court Justice

"What is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."
--- George Mason, father of the Bill of Rights

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 quoting from 'On Crimes and Punishment' by criminologist Cesare Beccaria, 1764