Richard Henry Lee Quote

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

by:	Richard Henry Lee (1732-1794) Founding Father
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Categories:	Constitution, Disarmament, Freedom, Individual Rights, Tyranny, Liberty, Terrorism, Civil Rights, Arms, Guns
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-- vicki, sacramento
Another clear-thinking founder.  -- David L. Rosenthal, Hollywood      1
Guns are not a necessary requirement for liberty... and those who believe so today are actually stating that they believe in the violent overthrow of the government (if not today's, then someday's). I can agree that those who own guns should be taught how to use them, as clearly our current VP was not (you don't take medications and then alcohol and then go hunting unless you want to shoot your hunting partnerts... oh, that's right, it worked correctly for him, duh!).  -- Anonymous, Reston, VA US      2
It should be informative that all these quotations for the right of unlimited gun use come from the 18th century when we had little or no army. All you gun nuts should ask yourself this question: why are there many, many more murders in this country than in those that control guns?  -- Dick, Fort Worth      2
Yeah, stupid founding fathers, how archaic.  -- Logan, Memphis, TN      1
Switzerland does exactly this -- every man spends 6 months in the Army, comes home and keeps his weapons at home ready to defend his nation. Switzerland has almost no gun-related crime. Let's face it, the War on Drugs and the black market that it creates is the single greatest cause of violent crime in America. Stop blaming the guns. If you make guns illegal, then only the criminals will have guns -- c'mon, think, for goodness sake.  -- E Archer, NYC
Anon from Reston says, "and those who believe so today are actually stating that they believe in the violent overthrow of the government." Yes, we reserve the right to defend ourselves against a tyrannical government -- we did it before, and we can do it again. That is as it should be -- we don't need government's permission to take care of ourselves.  -- Chicago      2
Anon in Reston and Dick in Ft. Worth, you should not fear inanimate objects. Dick, show me some accurate numbers for these "many, many more murders" you claim.  -- Gun Nut, NC      1
-- Anonymous, Raleigh, NC
Dick, Fort Worth; here are the facts (as I posted in another response): In Britain, where the gun ban is virtually absolute, we have the following USDOJ statistics: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/html/cjusew96/crpr.htm || Actually, the British would be better off if they had America's problems instead of the ones created by the British government; Britain's overall violent crime rate is higher than the American rate. || Gun crime in Britain is soaring to record levels. - "Pre-WWI Britain did not register guns, and London Bobbies who found themselves in need usually could borrow one from the citizen-on-the-street. After the war, some politicians feared veterans might become violent and started a registry and restrictions on carry rights. After WWII, the restrictions were expanded as was the registration requirement. It always sounded at least somewhat reasonable, and always accompanied with the disclaimer that the registry would never be used for confiscation. Then a school incident similar to our Columbine prompted mass anti-gun hysteria - and registered guns were confiscated." - http://www.ejectejecteject.com/archives/000013.html - As for the "many, many more murders in this country than in those that control guns?" which you refer to, - If you're referring to absolute totals, you have to consider the ~293,655,404 US population versus ~54,852,425 in Great Britain. If you're referring to murders by gunshot per 1000 (or a per capita conversion of that number), you need to refer to the tables provided by the USDOJ. - So, ... if ACTUAL data were to be my guide, I'd opt for the system our forefathers concocted, harebrained and ridiculous though it may be. Call me foolish, call me zany, but there you have it.  -- Terry Berg, Occidental, CA
Hey Dick from Ft Worth, seen London's violent crime rate lately?  -- Helberg, Minnesota
Dick, Fort Worth and Anonymous, Reston, VA should get their facts straight. I wonder if they live in gated communities with armed guards protecting them?  -- Joe, Rochester, MI
Pity Switzland didn't use them in WWII. Go Reston, Dick, and Logan (even the stupid recognize each other) This is a report from the US Department of Justice: • Firearms are more often involved in violent crimes in the United States than in England. According to 1996 police statistics, firearms were used in 68% of U.S. murders but 7% of English murders, and 41% of U.S. robberies but 5% of English robberies. I hope the US Dept of Justice is a reliable source? Have a great day...  -- Robert, Sarasota
A people armed against the state are safe from big brother. Brilliant deductions.  -- Gölök Zoltán Leenderdt Franco Buday, Vancouver, GVRD(Paine Cnty), Coastal Lwr Mainland BC(State of Neo Sumer), U.S. of Eh!
Robert in Sarasota: When the entire Swiss populace is armed, they don't make a very good target for take-over. The Swiss also maintain their own private bomb shelters. The crime rates in Switzerland are virtually non-existant.  -- E Archer, NYC
Robert, are the 1996 police statistics published anywhere where I can get access to them?  -- Terry Berg, Occidental, CA
Robert, the percentages of any crime in which firearms are used doesn't tell us the rate of those crimes per 1000 (of population) per year. I mean, if only two homicides by firearm were to have been committed in the US in a year and if they were the only two homicides committed in that year, then the percentage of homicides by firearm for that year would be 100%. Sounds bad but if spread over a population of a million it paints a different picture. What we need here is a little intellectual honesty. If the 'gun control lobby' were to be intellectually honest about the issue, they'd have to admit that they're too timid to take on the issue head-on. They'd have to admit that they want to eliminate the second amendment and that wouldn't sound like a winner, were it to come to a vote. Let's have them have the integrity to say the words which would actually reflect their real aim and not hide behind fuzzy-isms like "... a fundamental right of all Americans to feel safe."  -- Terry Berg, Occidental, CA
-- Mike, Norwalk
-- B
It shoud be "To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike how to use them, especially when young." or "To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, (especially when young), how to use them."  -- Zachary T. Keller, Mansassas
Anonymous, its a metaphor.  -- Sere Uchiha, Not On Earth XD
Anon: You're right. Dick: Per capita we are safer here than a lot of countries. We are currently (using 2010 numbers) at number 33. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate Robert: A murder is a murder regardless of the instrument of death. See above for the per capita rate of homicides. Your problem with guns is that it gives the weakest among us the ability to protect themselves. Thus, they have no need for those who feel superior to provide for them. That destroys the left who need to be lording over others to feel validated in themselves.  -- Charlie Given, Austin, Texas
I think there are alot of ways to preserve and protect our liberty.It does not always have to end in war,but sometimes war is necessary.  -- Lynn, Dickinsville
Reston and Dick, just relax and put your heads back in the sand.  -- jim k, Austin, Tx
Dick, how many countries can you name where violent crimes decreased when guns were removed from the public? The U.K. and Australian violent crime rates over doubled when guns were taken away.  -- Mike, Norwalk
Crime has NOT decreased in countries that have banned guns. It has accelerated. Only crime with guns has gone down and in some of those countries, not even that has happened. Chicago has the strictest gun laws in this country and the highest crime rate....with guns.  -- Casey, Russville
You can never stop crime  -- JJ
Hey Dick, Ft Worth...you should ask yourself why we'tre having all this crime in the first place! Could it be because the nanny state is undermining all sense of morality? Could it be that the massive agenda to medically prescribe psychotropic drugs to children that display and form of individuality is having an effect on their state of mind? Did you know that ALL of the perpetrators of mass shootings in the last 15 years were on psychotropic drugs that were prescribed by Doctors? Did you know that if you remove the numbver of gun deaths by policemen and law abiding people defending themselves that the majority of the remaining gun deaths take place in ghetto's? In other words those poor down trodden people who have lived on welfare for generations and just can't seem to sort themselves out no matter how much you help them...are killing each other. And you feel that making laws to control law abiding gun owners is the solution? Dick, you're an idiot.  -- J Carlton, Calgary
Oh and Dick? Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia and Mao's China had "armies" to protect the people too. That sure worked out well for the people didn't it?  -- J Carlton, Calgary
You know I'm just a teenager and you freaks who think we need to have gun control and ban them I have one thing to say , the gun doesn't cause the crime the person behind it does and also if you put more people in an area with high crime rate that have concealed weapons there will be less crime but if you restrict guns you will have more crime because criminals don't follow the law there criminals they will find a way to get a gun and kill with it but if you put armed citizens on the street them thugs will think , dude dat lady has a gun in her purse , dude don't mess wit dat homey , she'll woup your butt wit dat glock , you know think of that if your armed = ( virtually) no crime and disarmed = ookoes of crime , and I just have to say all the anti gunners out there just got owned by a 14 year old country boy , y'all have a good one ya' here  -- zach, bedford,Va
It's true young people , ( old enough to walk - 8 ) should be taught how to use a gun and should own one by the age of 8 , I've shot my first gun at the age of 10 yes I know it's a little late but hay kids/ people today will never shoot a gun or go huntin' or fishin' all they do today is smoke a cigarette and play on their stupid phones , like not that long ago I was watchin' the news and Jean Simmons was on there and he said you can talk good about buda , alla , Muslims, hindoos , and all false gods and religions but if you say one thing good about the all Mighty and the creator of you and the cosmos and the world you live in and you get beat down for it , and that's all I gotta say  -- zach, bedford,Va
-- hannah
-- Greg

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