Joni Ernst Quotes

The NRA believes America's laws were made to be obeyed and that our Constitutional liberties are just as important today as 200 years ago. And by the way, the Constitution does not say Government shall decree the right to keep and bear arms. The Constitution says 'The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.'

If there is no absolute right to freedom of speech, why must there be an absolute right to the freedom to bear arms.

… full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings concerning personal liberty … including the constitutional right to bear arms.

The first right of every human being is the right of self-defense. Without that right, all other rights are meaningless. The right of self-defense is not something the government bestows upon its citizens. It is an inalienable right, older than the Constitution itself. It existed prior to government and prior to the social contract of our Constitution.

An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.

You have a right to possess in your home and in your business a rifle, a pistol, and King George can't take it away from you, or Uncle Sam either.

The right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against the tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible..

I view it as a threat to my and my family's well-being whenever anyone seeks to erode or take away my Second Amendment civil liberty.

I own guns because it's my right, it's my Second Amendment right, and no one in Washington gave me that right; it's a natural right confirmed by the very people that founded this nation.

I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and believe that law-abiding Americans have the right to self-defense.

I still want my right to defend myself. A railroad operation, and you know it, from Nixon on down. they got you running around violating my constitutional rights.

The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed - where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once.

The right to buy weapons is the right to be free.

The Second Amendment is an integral part of the Bill of Rights.

Americans have the right to choose to be unarmed and helpless. Be my guest.

The right to bear arms is because it's the last form of defense against tyranny.

That guns do more than protect us from criminals; more importantly, they protect us from the ongoing threat of government.

I will always vote on the side of freedom and our right to keep and bear arms.

Arms are the only true badge of liberty. The possession of arms is the distinction of a free man from a slave.

…while gun owners are always saying that owning guns is about defending freedom, the only freedom gun owners seem interested in defending with their guns is the freedom to defend their freedom to own guns

In truth, we are the only developed country on earth with a constitution that recognizes the God-given right to keep and bear arms, and the human right of individual armed defense of self, family, home and country.

Our Founding Fathers knew that without Second Amendment freedom, all of our freedoms could be in jeopardy.

I have a beautiful little Smith & Wesson, 9 millimeter, and it goes with me virtually everywhere. But I do believe in the right to carry, and I believe in the right to defend myself and my family - whether it's from an intruder or whether it's from the government, should they decide that my rights are no longer important.

It's really easy for someone to say no one should have guns when they're guarded by people with MP-5s. It's a little bit different. I'm always mentioned in that article as well because I'm a staunch believer in the Second Amendment. I shoot virtually every weekend. I'm a big outdoorsman. I believe in all those traditions. And I believe it's important for people to be able to defend themselves.

I must say this concerning the great controversy over rifles and shotguns. The only thing I've ever said is that in areas where the government has proven itself either unwilling or unable to defend the lives and the property of Negroes, it's time for Negroes to defend themselves. Article number two of the constitutional amendments provides you and me the right to own a rifle or a shotgun. It is constitutionally legal to own a shotgun or a rifle.