Thomas Jefferson Quotes

The possession of arms is the distinction between a free man and a slave.

No kingdom can be secured otherwise than by arming the people. The possession of arms is the distinction between a freeman and a slave.”

Americans need never fear their government because of the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation.

The advantage of being armed ... the Americans possess over the people of all other nations.... 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.

This Constitution shall never be construed ... to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.

All persons ... shall have in continual readiness, a good musket or other gun, fit for service.

To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always posses arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.

Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe.

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 in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them.

The constitutional rights of all loyal and well-disposed inhabitants to bear arms will not be infringed.

Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.

The great object is that every man be armed.

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

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.

An armed person is a citizen. An unarmed person is a subject. Criminals love gun control – it makes their jobs safer. The American Revolution would never have happened with "gun control.

The 2nd Amendment was for protecting the people from the government.

Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birth-right of an American... The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people.

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.

I'm a big supporter of the Second Amendment. But I think I have a First Amendment right not to be shot.

Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense?

The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.

Armed and law-abiding citizens are a greater deterrent to violent crime than 1,000 laws passed by Congress.

I'm tired of hearing about this 'well-regulated militia' that is so necessary for American freedom.

The idea that owning a gun in America was an individual right only dates to the 1980s.