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“The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They 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, “Commonplace Book,” quoting 18th-century criminologist Cesare Beccaria, 1774-1776
“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined. … The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun.” — Patrick Henry, speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 5, 1778
There is only one reason people in power wish to disarm citizens. Control and power.
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“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.”
--Thomas Jefferson
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