St. George Tucker Quote

"This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty. ... The right of self defence is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any colour or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction."

by:	St. George Tucker (1752-1827) born in Bermuda, American lawyer, professor of law, judge
Source:	BLACKSTONE’S COMMENTARIES 1:APP. 300 (1803) reprinted in THE FOUNDERS’ CONSTITUTION, Volume Five (Amendments I-XII) p. 212 (Univ. of Chicago Press).
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Categories:	Arms, Defense, Liberty, Prohibition, Wisdom
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We hold this truth to be self evident, A very sound observance by brilliant men. He who forgets history is doomed to relive it.  -- Mike, Norwalk      3
A public disarmed is a serfdom.  -- J Carlton, Calgary      3
The right to own guns is actually a sybol of the right to vote and to have a say. I think it is a good symbol. But it is just that a symbol. The more important right is the right to vote which means liberty and democracy. Anyone attempting to tak away these rights of voting, liberty and democracy by gun power shall and should be denied their guns, and their freedom. So guns are not for taking the liberty of the polls, freely elected government etc no matter how much you think they have usurped.  -- Waffler, Smith      2 1
Waffler, a gun is a tool. A tool for maintaining freedom, life and liberty. What kind of a pseudo intellectual idiot are you anyway? A disgusting communist propogandist one...  -- J Carlton, Calgary      2
Waffler, I'm with J, I'm not quite sure what kind of idiot your are but, an idiot your are all the same ;-) The right to own a gun is actually an inalienable right (as an extension of the inherently endowed individual sovereign), not a mere symbol of another right.(among the many types of idiot as exist, you are at a minimum, a lying idiot). I do agree when, by the power of the gun, the right to choose an individual sovereign's representative, freedom, and liberty are lost, as exampled by the statist theocracy infesting this land, such despots should be denied their guns The sovereigns which are now only allowed to vote for jailers, not personal representatives, and despotic forms of compelled compliance, license, victimless crimes and larceny with impunity will one day arm themselves and take away the guns of the usurping despots that now infest this land.  -- Mike, Norwalk      2
I like "The right of self defence is the first law of nature." Out of the right stems the right to possess the means to do so. The laws of nature are not up for vote, Waffler. A thousand ignorances do not make one fact. What you are talking about is mob rule -- that is, if the majority votes away the property of the minority, it doesn't make it right. Rights are not at the whim of voters -- you cannot vote yourself more power than everyone else, you cannot vote your neighbor off his property, you cannot vote away the incomes and labors of others, you cannot vote yourself largess from the Treasury -- this is just tyranny of the masses instead of a despot. Individual rights come first and foremost, whether rich or poor, male or female, white or black. Equal justice demands it. The problem with 'progressivism' is that natural rights are considered arbitrary, and government subsidies are considered 'rights.' Only a collectivist can twist their mind enough to make sense of their wholesale theft of the property, labors, and liberty of everyone.  -- E Archer, NYC      2
The right to bear arms is essential if we are to maintain our freedom and liberty. The right to defend ourselves from a tyranicl government, the right to protect our life, to protect the lives of our family and loved ones, and the right to protect our private property are all necessary rights. When the liberals take away our guns, we've lost all of those things. The tryranists would take away our right to own property as the first step after taking away our guns.  -- GunnyCee, Durham      2
Waffler, please try to write something that makes sense.  -- jim k, Austin,Tx      1
Freedom begins at the end of a gun barrel so seem to say you all, and you live in a little Maoist world of your own hallucinations.  -- Waffler, Smith      1
Waffler...Liberty in this country and in every other throughout the course of human events was won by the tip of a sword or the barrel of a gun. Nowhere has true liberty ever been given or preserved without the force of the people. What force does the people have without the right to bear arms? You say we have the right to vote. Sure we do, until the government decides that we don't. Governments everywhere in every era have grown closer to despotism throughout their entire lives. Eventually, despotism is acheived, and the civil road to liberty is cut off, leaving the People with only one option, to take it by the sword. The last check possessed by We the People on the government, is our ability to destroy it.  -- Publius      2
Spoken like a true Maoist there Waffler. Don't try to make sense out of Waffler folks. Value your sanity.  -- warren, olathe      2
Waffler, the Maoist philosophy is that the government has all the guns and the people none. That is how communist China came about and remains the largest slave labor nation in the world. Are you really that dense?  -- E Archer, NYC      1
-- informed, Athens
-- Light, The South

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