How to Preserve Liberty

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

Richard Henry Lee.

The Problem With Anti-Gun Laws

Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ... 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." 

Cesare Beccaria, The Patriot Post email news, 10/27/23.

The Purpose of the Bill of Rights

It is a common misconception that the Bill of Rights grants certain rights to citizens.  It does no such thing.  The Bill of Rights recognizes God-given, inalienable rights.  What, then, is an inalienable right?  An inalienable right is an intrinsic liberty, granted to you by God that creates no countervailing obligation on another.  Inalienable rights are symmetrical: I recognize them in you, and you recognize them in me. 

The Second Amendment is clearly one such right, as the right to self-defense is absolute.  Make no mistake: the Second Amendment is not about hunting, or plinking.  It's about repelling intruders and tyrants with deadly force.  The origins of the Second Amendment can be traced specifically to April 19, 1775, when the British Crown took its tyranny one step too far; it marched on Lexington and Concord, seeking to confiscate the arms and ammunition of the colonists.

The Bill of Rights, by simply serving to articulate some of our God-given rights, puts the government on notice that none of these rights may be truncated in any way, irrespective of any government's incessant desires to do so — be it on guns, protest, or speech.  The government has exactly zero standing on any of these issues.

Colin McWay, Brace yourself: You're about to become a felon

Our Rights Come From God

It is a common misconception that the Bill of Rights grants certain rights to citizens.  It does no such thing. The Bill of Rights recognizes God-given, inalienable rights.  What, then, is an inalienable right?  An inalienable right is an intrinsic liberty, granted to you by God that creates no countervailing obligation on another.  Inalienable rights are symmetrical: I recognize them in you, and you recognize them in me. 

The Second Amendment is clearly one such right, as the right to self-defense is absolute.  Make no mistake: the Second Amendment is not about hunting, or plinking.  It's about repelling intruders and tyrants with deadly force.  The origins of the Second Amendment can be traced specifically to April 19, 1775, when the British Crown took its tyranny one step too far; it marched on Lexington and Concord, seeking to confiscate the arms and ammunition of the colonists.

The Bill of Rights, by simply serving to articulate some of our God-given rights, puts the government on notice that none of these rights may be truncated in any way, irrespective of any government's incessant desires to do so — be it on guns, protest, or speech.  The government has exactly zero standing on any of these issues.

Colin McWay, Brace yourself: You're about to become a felon

The 2nd Amendment Is An Individual Right

The Second Amendment addressed Whig fears of a professional standing army by guaranteeing the right of citizens to arm themselves and join militias. Over the years, the militia preface has become thoroughly (and often, deliberately) misinterpreted to imply that the framers intended citizens to be armed only in the context of an army under the authority of the state. In fact, militias were the exact opposite of a state-controlled army: the state militias taken together were expected to serve as a counterweight to the federal army, and the further implication was that citizens were to be as well armed as the government itself. (Supreme Court decisions in the early twenty-first century reaffirmed the individual right to possess firearms.)

Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen, A Patriot’s History of the United States, pg. 134.

Assault Weapons?

Now, let’s define a couple of terms yet again. “Assault weapon” is a bogus term deployed by the Left (and adopted by too many on the Right) to describe semiautomatic rifles that look scary because of certain cosmetic features. They are not machine guns. They do not spray bullets the way they’re sometimes depicted in movies and television. Sporting rifles like the AR-15 function in exactly the same way as many other (more powerful) hunting rifles and the vast majority of handguns — one trigger pull fires one bullet.

“High-capacity magazines” are, in fact, standard-capacity mags. Democrats want a limit of 10 rounds, even though virtually every normal size pistol magazine holds more than that. AR-15s come standard with 30-round magazines. If you’re in one of the millions of annual self-defense situations in America, especially if you’re facing a home invasion by more than one attacker, you’d probably be grateful to have more than 10 rounds. Labeling these magazines as “high-capacity” is nothing more than an effort to scare people who know nothing about guns.

Nate Jackson, What Part of ‘Shall Not Be Infringed’ Does Biden Not Understand?

Guns Aren’t What’s Destroying This Country

What is destroying this country is not the prevalence of guns. It isn’t the police. It isn’t systemic racism. It isn’t poverty or income inequality. The problem is this country’s sick sexual culture, its marginalization of fathers and the corresponding destruction of the family. …We refuse to connect the dots, because doing so would mean admitting that the sexual revolution went off the rails. And that runs afoul of both those who make millions selling sex and those who need constant validation for their own behavior. As a result, the innocence, health and well-being of children has been sacrificed for adults’ sexual selfishness. It is no accident that girls see themselves increasingly as sexual objects or that fatherless young men, without adequate role models for healthy behaviors, fall into deeply destructive ones. Without stability, without security, without a proper sense of themselves, they seek validation in sexual conquest, belonging in gang membership, and excitement in drug use and violence.

Laura Hollis, Gun Violence is a Result of Our Broken Culture

Swords and Plowshares

History teaches us that he who beats his sword into plowshares usually ends up plowing for those who kept their swords.

Charles Pellegrino, cited by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, Biblical Literacy, pg.286-287

We Are Nearing the Brink of Destruction

In most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right [to keep and bear arms] within the narrowest possible limits . . . and [when] the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.

George Tucker, 1803 Blackstone’s Commentaries regarding the Second Amendment.

Disarming Gun Control Laws are Dangerous

According to [Italian Marquis Cesare Beccria] and [Thomas] Jefferson, gun control laws “disarm those only who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Can it be supposed that those who have the courage to violate the most sacred laws of humanity, the most important code . . . will respect the less important and arbitrary ones, which can be violated with was and impunity, and which, if strictly obeyed, would put an end to personal liberty. . .  Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants . . . [These] laws [are] not preventative but fearful of crimes, produced by the tumultuous impression of a few isolated facts, and not by thoughtful consideration.”

Glenn Beck, Arguing With Idiots, pg.44

The People ARE the Militia

For advocates of gun control who feel the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution applies only to the military, I submit the following:

The first ten amendments were added by popular demand to give “the people” specific guarantees. The amendments clearly indicate reference to individual rights, not states’ rights.

The term “militia” as used in the 2nd Amendment referred to all able-bodied male citizens at least 18 years old.

In 1903, an act was passed creating the federal control, funding, and training of state forces as organized militia.  It designated all other adult male citizens as the unorganized militia.

An act of 1916 designated the organized militia as the National Guard. This was further clarified by the National Defense Act of June 4, 1920, and this act again designated all other adult male citizens as the unorganized militia.

Title 10 U.S. Code, Section 246, states that the militia consists of all able-bodied males 17 to 45 years old. It also specifies two classes of militias exist, the organized (i.e. National Guard) and unorganized.

In U.S. vs Miller, 1939, the U.S Supreme Court said that when militia members were called to service, they were “expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves and of the kind in common use” at the time.

Notice that making it illegal for males under 21-years-old to purchase a pistol, or making it illegal for any male at least 17-years-old to buy any rifle "in common use," is a violation of Federal law.

Data gathered by Glenn E. Chatfield, blog owner.

Some Quotes About the 2nd Amendment

The Militia is composed of free Citizens.  There is therefore no danger of their making use of their power to the destruction of their own rights, or suffering others to invade them.

Samuel Adams, Writings, pg. 251

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

Samuel Adams, Massachusetts Ratifying Convention, 1788

The police of a state should never be stronger or better armed than the citizenry.  An armed citizenry, willing to fight, is the foundation of civil freedom.

Robert A. Heinlein, Chapter 9, “When we die, do we die all over?”, p. 97

A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined…

George Washington, First Annual Address, to both House of Congress, January 8, 1790

No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms

Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776

A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, August 19, 1785

The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to to John Cartwright, 5 June 1824

On every occasion [of Constitutional interpretation] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying [to force] what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, [instead let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed.

Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, 12 June 1823

I ask who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers.

George Mason, Address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 4, 1788

Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of.

James Madison, Federalist No. 46, January 29, 1788

The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country.

James Madison, I Annals of Congress 434, June 8, 1789 (delete 5/10/17)

A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves…and include, according to the past and general usuage of the states, all men capable of bearing arms…  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.

Richard Henry Lee, Federal Farmer No. 18, January 25, 1788

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

This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty.... The right of self defense 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 color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.

St. George Tucker, Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, 1803

The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms, like law, discourage and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside. And while a single nation refuses to lay them down, it is proper that all should keep them up. Horrid mischief would ensue were one-half the world deprived of the use of them; for while avarice and ambition have a place in the heart of man, the weak will become a prey to the strong. The history of every age and nation establishes these truths, and facts need but little arguments when they prove themselves.

Thomas Paine, "Thoughts on Defensive War" in Pennsylvania Magazine, July 1775

What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty .... Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins.

Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, I Annals of Congress 750, August 17, 1789

If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no resource left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government, and which against the usurpations of the national rulers, may be exerted with infinitely better prospect of success than against those of the rulers of an individual state. In a single state, if the persons intrusted with supreme power become usurpers, the different parcels, subdivisions, or districts of which it consists, having no distinct government in each, can take no regular measures for defense. The citizens must rush tumultuously to arms, without concert, without system, without resource; except in their courage and despair.

Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 28

[I]f circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little, if at all, inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow-citizens. This appears to me the only substitute that can be devised for a standing army, and the best possible security against it, if it should exist.

Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 28, January 10, 1788

Where Our Rights Rest

A man's rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, jury box, and the cartridge box.

Frederick Douglas

Principle of Self-Defense

The defense of one’s self, justly called the primary law of nature, is not, nor can it be abrogated by any regulation of municipal law. This principle of defense is not confined merely to the person; it extends to the liberty and the property of a man … it extends to the person of every one, who is in danger; perhaps, to the liberty of every one, whose liberty is unjustly and forcibly attacked.

James Wilson (1791)

How Tyrants Take Over

One of the ordinary models by which tyrants accomplish their purposes without resistance is by disarming the people, and making it an offense to keep arms.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story (1840)

Founding Fathers on the 2nd Amendment

The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed . . .  If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government.

Alexander Hamilton

What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.

Thomas Jefferson

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

James Madison

To disarm the people -- that was the best and most effectual way to enslave them.

George Mason

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.

Richard Henry Lee


cited by Walter E. Williams, A Minority View

Anti-Gun Laws Harm Law Abiding Citizens

Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ... 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.

Cesare Beccaria (1738 - 1794)

Importance of 2nd Amendment

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.

Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, 1833

It Is Essential to be Armed

[T]o 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.

Federal Farmer (1787)

Looters vs Producers

When a society establishes criminals-by-right and looters-by-law — men who use force to seize the wealth of disarmed victims — then money becomes its creators’ avenger.  Such looters believe it safe to rob defenseless men, once they’ve passed a law to disarm them.  But their loot becomes the magnet for other looters, who get it from them as they got it.  Then the race goes, not to the ablest at production, but to the most ruthless at brutality.  When force is the standard, the murderer wins over the pickpocket.

Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged