Thomas Jefferson Quotes About Right To Bear Arms
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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.
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One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them.
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On every question of construction (of the Constitution) let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit of the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.
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What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.
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The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.
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The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.
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The constitutions of most of our States assert, that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves, in all cases to which they think themselves competent, or they may act by representatives, freely and equally chosen; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed; that they are entitled to freedom of person, freedom of religion, freedom of property, and freedom of the press.
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Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.
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What country before ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion? And 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. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
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A strong body makes the mind strong.
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The people cannot be all, and always well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive.
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I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.
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Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind.
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The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
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But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
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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.
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The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.
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The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
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For an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.
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God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion.
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All power is inherent in the people.
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Lethargy is the forerunner of death to the public liberty.
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