GUNS
176 Carefully Selected Quotations Divided into 8 Sections.
1. Essence - 211 | 5. Negative - 314
2. Opposites - 222 | 6. Advice - 327
3. Insight - 239 | 7. Poetry & Prose - 358
4. Positive - 282 | 8. Jokes & Humor - 375
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GUNS 1. Essence
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
211 Arms are the only true badge of liberty. The possession of
arms is the distinction of a free man from a slave.
Andrew Fletcher(1653-1716)
212 A free people ought to be armed.
George Washington (1732-1799)
Boston Independent Chronicle, Jan. 14th 1790
213 The right to buy weapons is the right to be free
A. E. van Vogt
The Weapon Shops of Isher, 1951
214 The people have a right to keep and bear arms.
Patrick Henry (1736-1799)
(Elliott, Debates at 185)
215 In a polity, each citizen is to possess his own arms, which
are not supplied or owned by the state.
Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)
216 The great object is that every man be armed.
Everyone who is able may have a gun.
Patrick Henry (1736-1799)
Virginia Convention - Ratification of Constitution - 1788
217 That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage
or working class flat is the symbol of democracy.
It is our job to see that it stays there.
George Orwell (1903-1950)
218 Without a rifle you are nothing, worthless, you are waiting
for death, any minute, any second.
Aron Bielski (b. 1927)
in Nechama Tec's "Defiance: The Bielski Partisans..."
219 Americans have the will to resist because you have weapons.
If you don't have a gun, freedom of speech has no power.
Yoshimi Ishikawa
220 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 (1732-1794)
221 When firearms go, all goes - we need them every hour.
George Washington (1732-1799)
Address to the Second Session of 1st U.S. Congress
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GUNs 2. Opposites
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
222 There are no dangerous weapons.
There are only dangerous men.
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988)
223 Here's my credo.
There are no good guns,
There are no bad guns.
A gun in the hands of a bad man is a bad thing.
Any gun in the hands of a good man is no threat to anyone,
except bad people.
Charlton Heston (b. 1924)
224 The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will
of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil
purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while
the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness
by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men
with rifles.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
225 The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun
is a good guy with a gun.
Wayne LaPierre (b. 1948)
226 There is a feeling of personal dignity and independence in
grasping, literally, the power to back your refusal to be a
target of a violent crime with lethal force. This is not a
sense of power, it is now the experience of escaping from a
sense of powerlessness.
John Longenecker
LA Gun Rights Examiner, 1/25/2009
227 If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization,
then be prepared to accept barbarism.
Thomas Sowell (b. 1930)
228 When guns are outlawed,
only outlaws have guns.
Bumper Sticker
229 "Weapons protect the weak from the strong, not the other way
around." The passengers of Flight 93 showed
us the way to defend ourselves - they fought back. If every
passenger fought back immediately, no terrorist
could succeed. If every victim fought back immediately, no
criminal could succeed. No one lives forever.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Ten, p. 53
230 Hence it is that all armed prophets have conquered,
and the unarmed ones have been destroyed.
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527)
"The Prince" - written in 1505, published in 1515
231 God is not on the side of the big battalions.
God is on the side of the best shots.
Voltaire (1694-1778)
232 There is a tremendous difference between shooting methods
that work well when you're simply trying to put holes in the
target and those that work well when the target is trying to
put holes in you. Failing to understand this difference is a
mistake that will get you killed if you ever have to use
your handgun in a real armed confrontation.
Col. Rex Applegate (1914-1998)
Bullseyes Don't Shoot Back
233 One hundred rounds do not constitute fire power.
One hit constitutes fire power.
General Merritt Edson (1897-1955)
Quoted in: Jeff Cooper's Commentaries - Volume Five
234 A fine marksman is with a second rate rifle is far more
effective than the reverse.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Mel Tappan's P.S. Newsletter
235 I am sometimes perplexed by people who refer to defensive
rifles, or defensive rifle shooting. The defensive
arm is the pistol, since you have it at hand to meet
situations that you do not anticipate. If you have the
luxury of anticipating a lethal encounter, you pick up a
long arm, either a rifle or a shotgun, but in that case you
go on to the attack. Thus rifle shooting is offensive, and
pistol shooting is defensive. Of course, life does not
always duplicate theory, and there are exceptions to
everything, but nevertheless the rifle is not a defensive
weapon in concept.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Eight, No. 11
236 Let's make this clear: there's a huge difference between
being (i.e. caught) in a fight and going to a fight. If you
knew in advance that you had to shoot a Bad Guy (i.e. going
to a fight), you wouldn't pick a handgun, would you? No
you'd take a rifle.
A handgun is merely a weapon used to fight your way back
to your rifle - which you shouldn't have left behind...
Boston T. Party
Boston's Gun Bible, pg. 25/1
237 In discussing whether a sidearm should be comfortable to
carry, Clint Smith observes that a handgun should
be comforting, rather than comfortable. Well put.
Clint Smith
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Nine, No. 3 13/73
238 Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have
for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GUNs 3. Insight
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
239 ...Beyond a doubt, there is no other service handgun made in
the lifespan of the Colt 45 that can equal - or even
approach - that of the M1911 Government Model when it comes
to resolving conflicts, stopping fights, and keeping
Americans alive and fighting...
Wiley Clapp
American Rifleman, September 2009
240 The unarmed man can only flee from evil.
And evil is never overcome by fleeing from it.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
241 There are 190,000 privately-owned full-auto guns in the
National Registry. (Only one has ever been used in a crime
in 66 years.)
Boston T. Party
Boston's Gun Bible
242 There are hundreds of millions of gun owners in this
country, and not one of them will have an accident today.
The only misuse of guns comes in environments where there
are drugs, alcohol, bad parents, and undisciplined children.
Period.
Ted Nugent (b. 1948)
243 Today's liberals wish to disarm us so they can run their
evil and oppressive agenda on us. The fight against crime is
just a convenient excuse to further their agenda. I don't
know about you, but if you hear that Williams' guns have
been taken, you'll know Williams is dead.
Walter Williams
244 Self-defense is Nature's eldest law.
John Dryden (1631-1700)
245 History has shown that the greater power of the gun is its
power to deter. Bear in mind that criminals, by definition,
target only victims they believe they can overpower. When
the intended victim draws a gun, the predator realizes that
their erstwhile target has the ability to kill them
instantly. This tends to modify their behavior immediately
without a shot being fired.
Massad Ayoob
The Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry, p. 21
246 Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity'
in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more
unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men.
St. Augustine (A.D. 354-430)
247 For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so,
a well organized and armed militia is their best security.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
Eighth Annual Message, November 8, 1808
248 Anyone who clings to the historically untrue -and thoroughly
immoral - doctrine that 'violence never solves anything' I
would advise to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte
and the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The Ghost
of Hitler could referee, and the jury might well be the
Dodo, the Great Auk, and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence,
naked force, has settled more disputes in history than has
any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful
thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth
have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms."
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988)
249 Every citizen should be a soldier.
This was the case with the Greeks and Romans,
and must be that of every free state.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
250 Only an armed people can be the real bulwark of popular
liberty.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924)
The Beginning of the Revolution in Russia
251 ...anyone can be a rifleman. It really is a universal
skill. And if you can be a rifleman, in the battle for
freedom, you should be a rifleman. You have the time and
there is no excuse.
No one has ever killed an enemy soldier with any of the
following: a golf ball, a basketball, a baseball, a
football, a hockey puck, a tennis ball, a soccer ball, a
race car, a fishing pole.
That has always been the task of a well-trained rifleman.
Fred's Guide to Becoming a Rifleman
http://www.fredsm14stocks.com
252 The military doesn't teach rifle marksmanship. It teaches
equipment familiarity. Despite what the officer corps
thinks, learning to shoot a rifle is not like learning to
drive a car. Instead, it is like learning to play the
violin.... The equipment familiarity learning curve comes up
quick, but then the rifle marksmanship continuation of the
curve rises very slowly....by shooting one careful shot at a
time, carefully inspecting the result (and the cause).
Darryl Davis
"On the Subject of Marksmanship...", MILITARY, 2/1998
253 Statistics reveal that police suffer from a stunning lack of
training and competence with firearms. According to the
national average, police hit their target 18% of the time
during violent confrontation. Individual locales vary: The
LAPD percentage is the highest in the nation (30%) while New
York's is the lowest (11%)
Mark F. Twight
"Eat or Be Eaten" from S.W.A.T. March 2000 (p.61)
254 The most deadly weapon on any battlefield is the single
well-aimed shot.
Cpt. Jim Land
quoted in "Boston's Gun Bible" p. 19/12
255 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.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
Letter to William S. Smith - 1787
256 You must understand, therefore, that there are two ways of
fighting: by law or by force. The first way is natural to
men, and the second to beasts. But as the first way often
proves inadequate one must needs have recourse to the
second.
Nicollo Machiavelli (1469-1527)
"The Prince"
257 ... in all countries where personal freedom is valued,
however much each individual may rely on legal redress, the
right of each to carry arms - and these the best and the
sharpest - for his own protection in case of extremity, is
a right of nature indelible and irrepressible, and the more
it is sought to be repressed the more it will recur.
James Paterson
quoted in Joyce Malcolm's "To Keep and Bear Arms... "
258 In America, freedom and justice have always come from the
ballot box, the jury box, and when that fails,
the cartridge box.
Steve Symms (b. 1938)
1990
259 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, 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 entrusted with supreme power
become usurpers, the different parcels, subdivisions, or
Districts of which it consists, having no distinct
government in each, and 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 (1755-1804)
Federalist No. 29 [January 9. 1788]
260 I knew one thing: as soon as anyone said you didn't need a
gun, you'd better take one along that worked.
Raymond Chandler (1888- 1959)
261 Without doubt one is allowed to resist against the unjust
aggressor to one's life, one's goods or one's physical
integrity; sometimes, even 'til the aggressor's death... In
fact, this act is aimed at preserving one's life or one's
goods and to make the aggressor powerless. Thus, it is a
good act, which is the right of the victim." [There are
three conditions under which legitimate self-defense must
lie:] "That he who is the target of the force is an
aggressor and an unjust aggressor... That the object of the
defense is an important good, such as the life, physical
integrity or worthy goods... [and] That defensive violence 3
is proportionate to aggression." [Under these conditions,]
"One is also allowed [not required] to kill other people's
unjust aggressor.
Thomas Aquinas
Dizionario ecclesiastico ("Ecclesiastic dictionary") UTET
262 As long as there are guns, the individual that wants a gun
for a crime is going to have one and going to get it.
Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)
263 The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry
guns, we decent law-abiding citizens should also have guns.
Otherwise they will win and the decent people will lose.
James Earl Jones (b. 1931)
264 Banning gun shows to reduce violent crime will work about as
well as banning auto shows to reduce drunken driving.
Bill McIntire
on the Norfolk, VA council's vote to cancel 4 gun shows
265 One cannot legislate the maniacs off the street... these
maniacs can only be shut down by an armed citizenry. Indeed
bad things can happen in nations where the citizenry is
armed, but not as bad as those which seem to be threatening
our disarmed citizenry in this country at this time.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
266 If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be
reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.
The Dalai Lama (b. 1935)
"Educating Heart Summit" in Portland, Oregon - 5/15/2001
267 A lawyer with a briefcase can steal more
than a hundred men with guns.
Mario Puzo (1920-1999)
The Godfather
268 We continue to be annoyed by commentators who insist that a
certain type of firearm - a 1911 auto, for example - is
designed only "to kill people." If we overlook the capacity
of the defensive handgun to intimidate an attacker, that
idea may be true, but we could respond by saying that a
scalpel is only designed "to cut people." But we can hardly
expect the logical approach from our entrenched hoplophobes.
I cannot believe that all these people are essentially
stupid. What they are, I propose, is simply envious. The
man who cannot cope automatically envies the man who can.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Six
269 Thomas Sowell, who is one of our favorite commentators,
points out three things that make the collectivists
uneasy. These are cars, guns and home schooling, all of
which grant to the individual a degree of independence of
action which terrifies the champions of the super state.
Cars, guns and home schooling reduce the need for the
statism so prized by the socialists. They do not wish you
freedom to move around. They do not wish you to be able to
protect yourself. And they do not wish you to decide what
your children should be taught. Such things reduce the power
of the state over the citizen.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Six
270 It is amusing to hear some of the culturally deprived types
maintain that "no one needs an assault gun."
According to the founding fathers, all adult males are
members of the militia, except for a few public officials.
As members of the militia, we need to be checked out on the
M16. This piece is not my idea of a good gun,
but it is the official personal arm of the US Armed Forces,
and it is our business to understand it. Thus we
have need of it, whether we like it or not.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Eight, 1/2000
271 By what measure should a man be considered a qualified
rifleman?... I passed that question around and came up with
a good deal of doubt. How about this? A qualified rifleman
should be able to stand erect at 200 meters, drop to a
stabilized position (other than prone) and sock it to a
ten-inch disk, with his first shot, in 10 seconds-every
time.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Nine, No. 5 26/73
272 Does recoil bother you much? This clearly is a personal
matter, and some people are affected far more than
others. When I was a lad we used to think the 03 was a jaw
breaker - but it was not.... I have a lot of experience
along this line, having taught people rifle marksmanship for
most of my adult life. It is not a matter of how big or
strong you are, it is a matter of what you think you
should think about rifle kick. I have had great success with
adolescents of both sexes in this regard, and while
I certainly do not assert that recoil effect does not exist,
I do insist that it is highly overrated. Any boy who
plays touch football seriously will be beaten around far
more in a quarter than he ever will be by the butt of
his rifle. What is more, he will enjoy it.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Nine, No. 3 16/73
273 We thought everybody knew by now that barrel length has
almost nothing to do with accuracy. I believe the myth of
the superior accuracy of a long rifle dates from colonial
days, when the only way to extend sight radius was to make
the barrel as long as possible. It is interesting how long
it takes a myth to die.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Six
274 In rifle work group size is of some interest, but it is by
no means the critical consideration that some commentators
seem to deem it. It is well to remember that a rifleman does
not shoot groups, he shoots shots. A tight group is nice,
but one must not fall into the error of PII (Preoccupation
with Inconsequential Increments). I have shot a great deal
in a long shooting life, and I have only once encountered a
rifle that would not shoot better than I could shoot it....
Group size is unimportant, unless it is very bad. If you
can hit a dinner plate, first shot, every time, under all
conditions, at 100, that will do.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Eight, No. 2
275 I have long had a tendency to tie marksmanship to morality.
The essence of good marksmanship is self-control, and
self-control is the essence of good citizenship.
It is too easy to say that a good shot is automatically a
good man, but it would be equally incorrect to ignore the
connection.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Nine, No. 4 22/73
276 Already a couple of the faithful have sent in checks for a
foundation memorial to the innocents who perished at the
hands of the ninja at Waco. ... I have been criticized by
referring to our federal masked men as "ninja" ... Let us
reflect upon the fact that a man who covers his face shows
reason to be ashamed of what he is doing. A man who takes it
upon himself to shed blood while concealing his identity is
a revolting perversion of the warrior ethic. It has long
been my conviction that a masked man with a gun is a target.
I see no reason to change that view.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
277 I have carried a revolver; lots of us do,
but they are the most innocent things in the world.
Mark Twain
278 The highest number to which a standing army can be carried
in any country does not exceed one hundredth part of the
souls, or one twenty-fifth part of the number able to bear
arms. This portion would not yield, in the United States,
an army of more than twenty-five or thirty thousand men.
To these would be opposed a militia amounting to near
half a million citizens with arms in their hands, officered
by men chosen from among themselves, fighting for their
common liberties and united and conducted by governments
possessing their affections and confidence. It may well be
doubted whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be
conquered by such a proportion of regular troops. ...
Besides the advantage of being armed, ... the existence of
subordinate governments ... forms a barrier against the
enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which
a simple government of any form can admit of. ... [The
governments of Europe] are afraid to trust the people with
arms. ... Let us not insult the free and gallant citizens of
America with the suspicion that they would be less able to
defend the rights of which they would be in actual
possession than the debased subjects of arbitrary power
would be to rescue theirs from the hands of their
James Madison (1751-1836)
The Federalist Papers, No. 46
279 A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the
character of the user.
Theodore Roosevelt (1958-1919)
280 The World War 1 pilot in his biplane would be no match for
the F-18 pilot, but the Pattern 14 Enfield-equipped (WW1)
soldier may very well easily kill the soldier of the late
1990s armed with an M16A2 rifle. Certainly the fighters in
Afghanistan showed that their Enfields were equal to Soviet
AK-74 rifles - and served as an example for all of us who
are confronted with oppressive governments that seek to
limit our ability to acquire current issue military weapons.
Timothy J. Mullin
Testing the War Weapons, p. 419
281 From the fastest to the slowest actions, they are: auto,
slide/pump, lever, bolt and single. It's no coincidence
that this order also corresponds to least-best accuracy.
The looser the action type, the quicker and less accurate it
is. You'll have to decide the right balance between speed
and accuracy, and actions will differ 2-3X more in speed
than accuracy.
Kenneth Royce
Boston's Gun Bible, pg. 24/2
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GUNs 4. Postive
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
282 The NRA believes America's laws were made to be obeyed and
that our Constitutional liberties are just as important
today as 200 years ago. And by the way, the Constitution
does not say Government shall decree the right to keep and
bear arms. The Constitution says 'The right of the people
to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.'
Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)
283 Personal weapons are what raised mankind out of the mud, and
the rifle is the queen of personal weapons. The possession
of a good rifle, as well as the skill to use it well, truly
makes a man the monarch of all he surveys. It realizes the
ancient dream of the Jovian thunderbolt, and as such it is
the embodiment of personal power. For this reason it
exercises a curious influence over the minds of most men,
and in its best examples it constitutes an object of
affection unmatched by any other inanimate object.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
The Art of the Rifle, p.1.
284 The data from the 1990 Harvard Medical Practice Study
suggest that 150,000 Americans die every year from doctors'
negligence - compared with 38,000 gun deaths annually. Why
are doctors not declared a public health menace? Because
they save more lives than they take. And so it is with guns.
Every year, good Americans use guns about 2.5 million times
to protect themselves and their families, which means 65
lives are protected by guns for every life lost to a gun.
Dr. Edgar Suter
San Francisco Chronicle, July 12, 1994, Opinion (p. A17)
285 You might not know that peaceable, law-abiding Americans use
their personal firearms about 5,500 times a day for
self-defense.... Not that there are 5,500 defensive
shootings a day, as the mere display of a gun and verbal
warning to an attacker usually resolves the situation
without any shots fired. In fact, private citizens shoot
nearly three times more violent criminals than do the
police, while wounding far fewer bystanders than do the
police. The media doesn't admit this, but the NRA compiles
new clippings of such incidents in "The Armed Citizen."
Boston T. Party
Boston's Gun Bible, p. 32-5; statistics from Kleck Study
286 According to the National Crime Survey administered by the
Bureau of the Census and the National Institute of Justice,
it was found that only 12 percent of those who use a gun to
resist assault are injured, as are 17 percent of those who
use a gun to resist robbery. These percentages are 27 and 25
percent, respectively, if they passively comply with the
felon's demands. Three times as many were injured if they
used other means of resistance.
G. Kleck
"Policy Lessons from Recent Gun Control Research"
286 There's no question that weapons in the hands of the public
have prevented acts of terror or stopped them.
Shlomo Aharonisky
287 Suppose one little old lady in ten carries a gun. Suppose
that one in ten of those, if attacked by a mugger, succeeds
in killing the mugger instead of being killed by him - or
shooting herself in the foot. On average, the mugger is much
more likely to win the encounter than the little old lady.
But - also on average - every hundred muggings produces
one dead mugger. At those odds, mugging is an unprofitable
business - not many little old ladies carry enough money to
justify one chance in a hundred of being killed getting it.
The number of muggers declines drastically, not because they
have all been killed but because they have, rationally,
sought safer professions.
David Friedman
The Economics of Everyday Life (New York: Harper, 1996),
288 You can spout all the anti-gun noise you want. You can tell
me guns are 'macho' and 'masculine', and accuse me of trying
to be like the 'big boys' if I carry one. I don't care. I've
been raped, and I've decided that I would much rather defend
myself than sit back quietly and be 'ladylike'.
Julie Batson
289 ...guns do more than protect us from criminals; more
importantly, they protect us from the ongoing threat of
government.
Lyn Nofziger (1924-2006)
290 Without freedom there will be no firearms among the people;
without firearms among the people there will not long be
freedom. Certainly there are examples of countries where the
people remain relatively free after the people have been
disarmed, but there are no examples of a totalitarian state
being created or existing where the people have personal
arms.
Neal Knox (1935-2005)
The Firearms Coalition
291 Rome remained free for four hundred years and Sparta eight
hundred, although their citizens were armed all that time;
but many other states that have been disarmed have lost
their liberties in less than forty years.
Nicollo Machiavelli (1469-1527)
292 Armed people are free. No state can control those who have
the machinery and the will to resist, no mob can take their
liberty and property. And no 220-pound thug can threaten the
well-being or dignity of a 110-pound woman who has two
pounds of iron to even things out. People who object to
weapons aren't abolishing violence, they're begging for rule
by brute force, when the biggest, strongest animals among
men were always automatically "right." Guns ended that,
and a social democracy is a hollow farce without an armed
populace to make it work.
L. Neil Smith (b. 1946)
293 A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the 'phone.
Anonymous
Pro-Gun "One-Liners"
294 If you've got to resist, you're chances of being hurt are
less the more lethal your weapon. If that were my wife,
would I want her to have a .38 Special in her hand? Yeah.
Dr. Arthur Kellerman (b. 1955)
Health Magazine, March/April 1994
295 The proliferation of state concealed carry laws has
evidently reduced the rate of violent street crime to a
considerable extent. When the goblins do not know who is
armed and who is not, their professional enthusiasm
declines. Now that Britain has made sure (insofar as any law
can so insure) that everybody is disarmed, the streets are
given back to the bad kid with the baseball bat. We hope
they are satisfied.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Five
296 There is no doubt in my mind that millions of lives could
have been saved if the people were not "brainwashed" about
gun ownership and had been well armed. ... Gun haters always
want to forget the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, which is a
perfect example of how a ragtag, half-starved group of Jews
took 10 handguns and made asses out of the Nazis.
Theodore Haas (b. 1917)
297 An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when
one may have to back up his acts with his life.
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988)
Beyond This Horizon
298 [The Constitution preserves] the advantage of being armed
which Americans possess over the people of almost every
other nation (where) the governments are afraid to trust the
people with arms.
James Madison (1751-1836)
Federalist, No. 46.
299 The rifle is the weapon of democracy. If guns are outlawed,
only the government will have guns. Only the police, the
secret police, the military. The hired servants of our
rulers. Only the government - and a few outlaws. I intend to
be among the outlaws.
Edward Abbey (1927-1989)
"The Right to Arms," Abbey's Road [New York, 1979]
300 No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The
strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep
and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves
against tyranny in government.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
Proposal Virginia Constitution, June 1776
301 Individual Firearms are to Tyranny
As Vaccines are to Disease.
Just as Vaccines kill some Individuals
But protect Society at large from Infectious Disease
So guns kill some Individuals - and we mourn their loss
But protect Society from Government Tyranny.
Barry Fetter (b. 1947)
302 The rifle is a weapon. Let there be no mistake about that.
It is a tool of power, and thus dependent completely upon
the moral stature of its user. It is equally useful in
securing meat for the table, destroying group enemies on the
battlefield, and resisting tyranny. In fact, it is the only
means of resisting tyranny, since a citizenry armed with
rifles simply cannot be tyrannized.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
The Art of the Rifle
303 While the people have property,
arms in their hands, and
only a spark of noble spirit,
the most corrupt Congress must be mad
to form any project of tyranny.
Nicholas Collin (1746-1831)
Fayetteville Gazette (N.C.), October 12, 1789
304 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...
Joseph Story (1779-1845)
Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States1833
305 That the people have a Right to mass and to bear arms; that
a well regulated militia composed of the Body of the people,
trained to arms, is the proper natural and safe defense of a
free state, that standing armies, in time of peace, are
dangerous to liberty, and therefore ought to be avoided...
George Mason (1725-1792)
Draft proposal, 3 Elliot, Debates at 659.
306 "... but if 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 use of arms, who stand ready to
defend their rights..."
Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804)
Federalist, No. 29
307 Switzerland has not been invaded in 800 years, because every
man and most of the women are issued guns which they keep at
home. Imagine a government that not only allows but INSISTS
its citizens keep military grade weapons. That's points
right there. Even more, they hold quarterly Schuetzenfests,
at which shooting, carousing and drinking are expected. And
it's entirely possible you will have your ass handed to you
by a 13 year old girl shooting a select-fire StG90 assault
rifle that she carried to the range from school, slung
across her back while pedaling her bicycle. Swiss GIRLS are
better men than most allegedly-male American liberals.
Crazy Einar
THE TEN MANLIEST FIREARMS on Arthur's Hall of Viking Man.
http://www.arthurshall.com/x_2007_manly_firearms.shtml
308 Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any
government, no matter how popular and respected, is the
right of citizens to keep and bear arms.... The right of
citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against
arbitrary government, one more safeguard against the
tyranny which now appears remote in America but which
historically has proven to be always possible."
Hubert H. Humphrey (1911-1978)
"Know Your Lawmakers," Guns magazine, February 1960
309 Ammunition beats persuasion
when you are looking for freedom.
Will Rogers (1879-1935)
310 The supposed quietude of a good man allures the
ruffian; while on the other hand, arms like laws discourage
and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve
order in the world as well as property. 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...Horrid mischief would ensue were one half
the world deprived of the use of them...
Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
Thoughts on Defensive War, 1775
311 According to Herodotus, the ancient Persians felt that what
was necessary in the background of a young man entering
adulthood was his ability to ride, shoot straight, and speak
the truth. Perhaps we should now grant our college degrees
to young men who measure up to that standard.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Eight, No 11
312 (The American Colonies were) "all democratic governments,
where the power is in the hands of the people and where
there is not the least difficulty or jealousy about putting
arms into the hands of every man in the country. (European
countries should not) be ignorant of the strength and the
force of such a form of government and how strenuously and
almost wonderfully people living under one have sometimes
exerted themselves in defense of their rights and liberties
and how fatally it has ended with many a man and many a
state who have entered into quarrels, wars and contests with
them.
George Mason (1725-1792)
The Papers of George Mason, edited by Robert Rutland 1970
313 Boys who own legal firearms have much lower rates of
delinquency and drug use and are even slightly less
delinquent than nonowners of guns.
U.S. Department of Justice,
"Urban Delinquency and Substance Abuse," August 1995.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GUNs 5. Negative
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
314 A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional
maturity.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
10th Lecture, General Introduction to Psychoanalysis 1916
315 Hoplophobia is a mental disturbance characterized by
irrational aversion to weapons, as opposed to justified
apprehension about those who may wield them.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Speak the Truth
316 When a government controls both the economic power of
individuals and the coercive power of the state ...
this violates a fundamental rule of happy living:
Never let the people with all the money and the people with
all the guns be the same people.
P. J. O'Rourke (b. 1947)
317 The only good bureaucrat is one with a pistol at his head.
Put it in his hand and it's good-bye to the Bill of Rights.
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)
318 Are we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing
degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own
defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in
our own possession and under our own direction, and having
them under the management of Congress? If our defense be
the_real_object of having those arms, in whose hands can
they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us,
as in our own hands?"
Patrick Henry (1736-1799)
Virginia Convention - Ratification of Constitution - 1788
319 A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's
hand.
Seneca the Elder (54 BC-39 AD)
Letters to Lucilius
320 64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.
Anonymous
321 I may get killed with my own gun, but he's gonna have to
beat me to death with it, 'cause it's going to be empty.
Clint Smith
322 The proliferation of right-to-carry laws throughout the
states has drawn plaintive complaints from the
criminal element. They feel that it makes their profession
too dangerous when the streets are full of "civilians"
who may or may not be armed. Poor babies!
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries - Volume Five
323 It seems that the concealed carry policy now in effect in 30
states is unfair to goblins. They cannot tell who is
armed and who is not, and when their intended victim shoots
back it hurts their feelings - along with other things.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Eight, No. 8
324 You are bound to meet misfortune if you are unarmed because,
among other reasons, people despise you....There is simply
no comparison between a man who is armed and one who is not.
It is unreasonable to expect that an armed man should obey
one who is unarmed, or that an unarmed man should remain
safe and secure when his servants are armed. In the latter
case, there will be suspicion on the one hand and contempt
on the other, making cooperation impossible.
Nicollo Machiavelli (1469-1527)
"The Prince"
325 Some people who don't like guns can't stand the idea of so
many gun owners in one place (at gun shows) buying and
selling their wicked products. It's how some communists
feel when they visit the New York Stock Exchange.
David Kopel
The American Guardian, January 1999
326 Singularly, it isn't the gun alone that provides protection
in violent times. It is your whole security posture. Depth
of security is the answer. The gun provides a last-line
defense. If a gunfight occurs, there was a gap somewhere
in the security plan.
Jim Grover
Street Smarts, Firearms and Personal Security
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GUNs 6. Advice
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
327 A Warning About Muzzle Brakes -
Recorded noise levels (on certified audiological
instruments) at either muzzle of a magnum or high velocity
rifle with a muzzle brake installed normally exceed 160
decibels. Permanent ear damage occurs at 120 decibels. If
you read the fine print on the finest set of ear plugs and
ear muffs available, you will find the total noise reduction
only between 22 and 31 decibels. This means that on a rifle
with a muzzle brake, even if you are wearing hearing
protection, you are suffering permanent ear damage.
Authur Alphin
Any Shot you Want (1996)
328 Remember the first rule of gunfighting... "have a gun."
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
329 The one weapon every man, soldier, sailor, or airman -
should be able to use effectively is the rifle. It is always
his weapon of personal safety in an emergency, and for many
it is the primary weapon of offence and defense. Expertness
in its use cannot be over emphasized.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
330 There should be at least ten times the number of rifles in
the country as there are now.
Theodore Roosevelt (1958-1919)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Nine, No. 5, 25/73
331 The most important item of equipment that a rifleman can
have in his possession in combat is a well-zeroed rifle.
Unit Marksmanship Training Program...
How to Do Guide, USAMU (1979), p.37
332 ...two riflemen working as a team are worth as much as 8 or
10 individual uncoordinated riflemen. The future will not
belong to the loners, and not to the hiders, but to those
who are riflemen, and who can work together to double or
triple not only their effectiveness on the target, but also
their protective factor
...Every shot fired in this country to better your
shooting skills, to make yourself more valuable as a
potential defender of the Constitution is a shot fired for
freedom.
Fred
The Shotgun News, p.77 2/1/2000
333 The best defense is a well-directed fire from your own guns.
Admiral Farragut
334 There is a way to develop a high level of skill without
firing a single shot. It is called dry practice. Dry
practice is the effort a student puts forth off the range at
home, with an unloaded firearm. Dry practice allows you to
execute perfect repetitions of all gun handling
manipulations without the distracting muzzle blast or
recoil...
Live fire is an important but minor part of the
training...Look at live fire as a mere validation of your
dry practice. The daily dry practice is the training,; the
occasional live-firing drill is the final exam.
Gabriel Suarez
The Tactical Rifle (1999) p.19
335 [Mil-spec quality tactical scopes] are not cheap, but they
are, in my opinion worth it. The optical or scope sight has
advantages over iron sights that may make the difference in
low light, in situations where the visibility of iron sights
is diminished, or where visual identification of a small,
obscured target is desired. (at 60)
Gabriel Suarez
The Tactical Rifle (1999)
336 Your job as a rifleman involves target detection, range
estimation, and firing an accurate shot - in that order of
difficulty.
If you can't see (the target) you as a rifleman can still
hit it (more on that later), but if you don't detect it, if
you can't spot it, you'll never fire the shot at all.
Fred's Guide to Becoming a Rifleman, p.9
337 Many hunters and professional soldiers (especially snipers)
have remarked how important it is during a stalk to not
directly stare or even think hard about your quarry, else he
will often sense it. While nobody can adequately explain
it, this phenomenon has been noticed by so many people that
its truth cannon be questioned
Kenneth W. Royce
Boston's Gun Bible, pg. 4/8
338 I have often preached that one's personal firearms are the
last thing on which one should practice economy. A
good gun is a permanent asset. It does not go out of style
or wear out. To submit such a thing to what is
sometimes referred to as a "budget" is to manifest confused
priorities. To state that you will not buy a superior
rifle because you must wait until you can afford it because
at this point you can afford a cheap rifle, makes no
sense.... The principle is this: If you haven't the money
to buy a good piece, don't buy it. Make do with what you
have now, but don't buy an inferior product which will only
cause you discontent and require its replacement, at
increased expense, later on. A Porsche or a Ferrari will
outlive its usefulness in a few years. A first rate rifle
will not.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Eight, No. 11
339 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 (1732-1794)
1787
340 The great body of our citizens shoot less as times goes on.
We should encourage rifle practice among schoolboys, and
indeed among all classes, as well as in the military
services by every means in our power. Thus, and not
otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving peace in
the world... The first step - in the direction of
preparation to avert war if possible, and to be fit for war
if it should come - is to teach men to shoot!
Theodore Roosevelt (1958-1919)
President Theodore Roosevelt's last message to Congress.
341 A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined but
they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain
a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse
them, which would include their own government.
George Washington (1732-1799)
342 Arms in the hands of citizens [may] be used at individual
discretion... in private self-defense ..."
John Adams (1735-1826)
A Defense of the Constitutions of the...USA, 471, 1788
343 Police Protection is an oxymoron. Free citizens must
protect themselves.
Police do not protect you from crime, they usually just
investigate the crime after it happens and then call
someone in to clean up the mess.
Anonymous
344 [If you return home and an intruder is inside] First, if
you definitely hear someone crashing about, I suggest you do
four things: account for loved ones inside the house, move
them to a designated safe room, call the police and move to
a barricaded position between the criminal and your safe
room, saying these three things: "You're in my house. I've
called the police. I have a gun."
Only the most intent criminal would continue toward you at
this point. Only someone who is intoxicated or otherwise
impaired would lack the judgement to get the hell out. Only
the most unreasonable man would choose to confront you. In
my opinion, you have gone a long way to passing the
"reasonable man" test (i.e. the jury, if you're ever tried)
if you follow these steps.
Jim Grover
Street Smarts, Firearms and Personal Security
345 It is long been a principal of ours that one is no more
armed because he has possession of a firearm than he is
a musician because he owns a piano. There is no point in
having a gun if you are not capable of using it
skillfully.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
5
346 Place your clothes and weapons
where you can find them in the dark.
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988)
347 "Keep your revolver near you night and day, and never relax
your precautions."
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)
Advice of Sherlock Holmes - The Hound of the Baskervilles
348 I would not use any weapon that has not been fired at least
500 times to take the rough edges off the working parts,
but...after you break it in by firing 500 rounds, you should
not have any weapon-related malfunction more than once every
2,000 rounds.
Timothy J. Mullin
Handbook of Guns, 2001
349 RULE 1
ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED
The only exception to this occurs when one has a weapon in
his hands and he has personally unloaded it for checking. As
soon as he puts it down, Rule 1 applies again.
RULE 2
NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT PREPARED
TO DESTROY
You may not wish to destroy it, but you must be clear in
your mind that you are quite ready to if you let that muzzle
cover the target. To allow a firearm to point at another
human being is a deadly threat, and should always be treated
as such.
RULE 3
KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER TIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE
TARGET
This we call the Golden Rule because its violation is
responsible for about 80 percent of the firearms disasters
we read about.
RULE 4
BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET
Never shoot at anything that you have not positively identified.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries - Volume Six
350 AMMO - The World's Most Stable Currency
And You Can Shoot It Too!
My favorite saying about ammunition came from one of the
most combat experienced men on the planet...over a small
bright fire in a large dark cave he cheerfully advised:
"Try never to never run out of smokes, ammo and luck all
at the same time." Laughing he added, "and remember this:
if have AMMO, you can get more smokes - and MAKE your own
luck!"
John Conner
"American Handgunner," pg. 54, March/April 2009
351 Buy ammunition! Remember that a man cannot have too many
books, too many wines, or too much ammunition. Our
adversaries on the other side are reaching for the excuse of
lead poisoning. If they can push that idea through, you may
wind up still owning your guns but without anything to shoot
in them.
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Eight, No. 8
352 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
the constant companion of your walks.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
353 The sling is to a rifle what the holster is to a pistol. If
you have a sling, chances are you will keep the rifle with
you. If there is no sling present, you will set the rifle
down. When you are at the absolutely farthest point away
from the rifle that you can possibly get, you'll need it.
Clint Smith
354 Anytime you are carrying one weapon, you should always carry
two...Your primary weapon may become disabled, lost or be
incapable of being reached. You may run out of ammunition
or may have an ally with you who needs an arm to defend
himself... A healthy person has two arms, two legs, two
eyes, two ears, etc. A similarly well-prepared individual
should have two handguns also.
Timothy Mullins
Round Guns - Square Guns (2000)
355 If you're not shootin', you should be loadin'. If you're not
loadin', you should be movin'. If you're not movin',
someone's gonna cut your head off and put it on a stick.
Clint Smith
356 ...airlines, not the government, should establish that their
aircraft are safer because their air crews are armed. The
customers could then decide which lines to fly.
T.J. Johnston
Quoted in Jeff Cooper's Commentaries - Volume Ten, p. 43
357 Warning: I may be one of the most militaristic writers you
have encountered. I want to see a world in which every
adult holds copies of the Declaration of Independence and
Bill of Rights in one hand, and a rifle in the other. I am
sure that when this condition is achieved 99% of all
political and economic problems will go away.
Richard Marbury
Early Warning Report, quoted in "Boston's Gun Bible."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GUNs 7. Poetry & Prose
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
358 When a man takes his rifle a walkin'
it adds not a bit to his load.
It makes him in fact somewhat lighter,
for he walks as a free man, unbowed.
Joe Sledge
The Walking Rifleman
359 OLYMPEION
(An Ode to the Rifle)
You hold in your hands the bow of Diana,
The spear of Achilles, the hammer of Thor.
Now you command both precision and distance.
To dominant power you've opened the door.
Your rifle embodies the gift of Hephaistos,
The grant of Olympus to hapless mankind.
Your rifle's a thing of both power and beauty,
Its proper employment ennobles the mind.
Bare-handed you live at the mercy of numbers,
But numbers can never match rifleman's skill.
Your rifle essentially makes you the master.
It creates and maintains humanity's will.
Vulcan has given you means to establish
Divine domination o'er man, beast and foe.
Your rifle's the sorcerer's scepter of power.
Direct it with wisdom of judgement bestow.
Collective Effort
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Ten
360 ...I realize now why I so cherish the M1, the BAR... We
can't retain these men and their vigor, spirit and stories
forever. We can honor what they accomplished, once we
understand the real forces involved (the terror, the
desperation)...This hardware we shoot was American,
reliable, powerful, fast. The only full-power,
semi-automatic, standard infantry rifle in the world, it was
conceived by a brilliant Canadian and produced daily by
factories in New England, advancing American infantrymen and
their tactics into levels of flexibility and mobility far
ahead of the rest of the world. (at ix)
What we are trying to preserve is a legacy, and not just
a legacy of violence, by any means. There's a manufacturing
legacy, a design legacy, a service legacy, a training
legacy, a shooting legacy - in the end, not much about war
and virtually nothing about crime (at xiii)
Jim Thompson
"The Classic M1 Garand" quoted: Boston's Gun Bible 11/16
361 Every Man Should have a Rifle
So I sit and write and ponder,
while the house is deaf and dumb,
Seeing visions "over yonder" of the war I know must come.
In the corner - not a vision - but a sign for coming days
Stand a box of ammunition and a rifle in green baize.
And in this, the living present,
let the word go through the land,
Every tradesman, clerk and peasant
should have these two things at hand.
No - no ranting song is needed, and no meeting, flag or fuss
In the future, still unheeded, shall the spirit come to us!
Without feathers, drum or riot on the day that is to be,
We shall march down, very quiet, to our stations by the sea.
While the bitter parties stifle
every voice that warns of war,
Every man should own a rifle and have cartridges in store!
Henry Lawson (1867-1922)
362 In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of
musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur (1860-1964)
363 Of every One-Hundred men in battle, ten shouldn't be there.
Eighty, are nothing but targets.
Nine are the real fighters...
We are lucky to have them...They make the battle.
Ah, but the One. One of them is a Warrior...
and He will bring the others back.
Heracletus (c. 500 B.C)
Quoted in Boston's Gun Bible
364 I guess we will never know what happened in the cabin of
United Flight 93 before it went down southeast of
Pittsburgh, but we do know that real men are not an extinct
species. Let us honor four true heroes - Jeremy Glick, Todd
Beamer, Tom Burnett and Mark Bingham - who showed us how to
face up to peril. They died, and in doing so they saved the
lives of hundreds of others.
.
"Death comes with a crawl
Or comes with a pounce,
And whether he's slow or spry,
It's not the fact that you're dead that counts,
But only - How did you die?"
Edmund Vance Cooke
.
As Payton Miller, Executive Editor of "Guns & Ammo," put it,
"There were too many cell phones on that airplane and not
enough pistols."
Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Nine, No. 11 58/73
365 From the east to the west blow the trumpet to arms!
Through the land let the sound of it flee;
Let the far and the near all unite, with a cheer,
In defense of our Liberty Tree.
Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
366 Colt Model 1911A1 .45 ACP
John Moses Browning is the patron saint of shooters and
weapon designers. This was a man so manly that his sole
purpose in life was to create weapons to kill tasty animals
and the enemies of our nation in job lots. These weapons
were so successful that both sides used the Hi Power in
WWII, and the US Army is fixing its unmanly error of the 9mm
by calling for bids on a new .45, while the Marine Recon
units and certain other Special Operations units are STILL
using the Model 1911A1 with a few improvements, 96 years
after it was first fielded... This is a pistol so manly that
during WWII, it was even made by Singer Sewing Machine, and
collectors prize that version for its rarity. The 1911 is
THE pistol people think of when the word is invoked.
Crazy Einar
http://www.arthurshall.com/x_2007_manly_firearms.shtml
367 And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would
things have been like if every Security operative, when he
went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain
whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his
family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for
example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the
entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs,
paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and
at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had
nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs
hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers,
pokers, or whatever else was at hand? After all, you knew
ahead of time that those bluecaps were out at night for no
good purpose. And you could be sure ahead of time that you'd
be cracking the skull of a cutthroat. Or what about the
Black Maria sitting out there on the street with one lonely
chauffeur - what if it had been driven off or its tires
spiked. The Organs would very quickly have suffered a
shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all
of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to
a halt!
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008)
368 My father sent my mother a revolver as a gift, which for her
was the symbol of what any young girl wants in a marriage,
this was for her the means to stay alive, to kill herself or
to die fighting.
Assaela Bielski
in Nechama Tec's "Defiance: The Bielski Partisans..."
369 TWO THINGS
Two things move under night sky
the thing that came to kill, and I
He, released from prison to roam
and I, peaceably headed to home
He carries a knife and drug addled sense
seeing just prey, without defense
I detect movement, intuitive fear
and put my hand to pistol near
Worried, alone in that gloomy blight
above the fear, I prepare to fight
He hears the click of a chambered round
fleeing quickly to hunt safer ground
No predator dares go hunting for me
for I am armed, that makes me free
I holster my pistol and slowly stand down
heading towards home in a dark, sleeping town
For there are two things that will not die
my right to carry, and this night, I
Brigid Durham
from Home on the Range
370 I don't carry a gun to kill people. I carry a gun to keep
from being killed.
I don't carry a gun to scare people. I carry a gun because
sometimes this world can be a scary place.
I don't carry a gun because I'm paranoid. I carry a gun
because there are real threats in the world.
I don't carry a gun because I'm evil. I carry a gun because
I have lived long enough to see the evil in the world.
I don't carry a gun because I hate the government. I carry a
gun because I understand the limitations of government.
I don't carry a gun because I'm angry. I carry a gun so that
I don't have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for
failing to be prepared.
I don't carry a gun because I want to shoot someone. I carry
a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and
not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.
I don't carry a gun to make me feel like a man. I carry a
gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the
ones they love.
Syd on the Internet
http://www.snubnose.info/wordpress/rkba/i-dont-carry-a-gun/
371 My Rifle (The Creed of a United States Marine)
.
This is my rifle.
There are many like it, but this one is MINE.
My rifle is my best friend. It is my life.
I must master it as I must master my life.
My rifle, without me is useless. Without my rifle, I am
useless.
I must fire my rifle true.
I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill
me.
I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will...
My rifle and myself know that what counts in war is not the
rounds we fire,
the noise of our bursts, nor the smoke we make.
We know it is the hits that count. We will hit...
My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life.
Thus, I will learn it as a brother.
I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths, its parts, its
accessories, [**Finish 3rd Part]
its sights, and its barrel.
I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and
Maj. Gen. W. H. Rupertus (1889-1945)
372 Well, Bill [Bill Hickok] was a pretty good shot. But he
could not shoot as quick as half a dozen men we all knew in
those days, nor as straight either. But Bill was cool, and
the men who he went up against were rattled, I guess. Bill
beat them to it. He made up his mind to kill the other man
before the other man had finished thinking.
Buffalo Bill Cody (1946- 1917)
Outdoor Life interview with W.H. MacFarlane, 1917
373 Someone at the table asked a Japanese admiral why, with the
Pacific Fleet devastated at Pearl Harbor and the mainland US
forces in what Japan had to know was a pathetic state of
unreadiness, Japan had not simply invaded the West Coast.
"You are right," he told the Americans. "We did indeed know
much about your preparedness. We knew that probably every
second home in your country contained firearms. We knew that
your country actually had state championships for private
citizens shooting military rifles. We were not fools to set
foot in such quicksand.
Japanese Admiral
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries Volume Nine, No. 9 46/73
374 "Ain't many troubles that a man can't fix,
with seven-hundred dollars and a 30-06."
Lindy Cooper
Jeff Cooper's Commentaries - Volume Five
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GUNs 8. Poetry & Prose
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
375 Bolt actions speak louder than words.
Matthew W. Gail
376 If guns cause crime,
then pencils cause misspelled words.
Anonymous
377 Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously
never encountered automatic weapons.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur (1860-1964)
378 The only time you have too much ammunition
is when your house is on fire..
379 You can do more with a kind word and a gun
than with just a kind word.
Al Capone (1899 - 1947)
380 If guns cause crime,
then matches cause arson.
Anonymous
381 In our school you were searched for guns and knifes on the
way in and if you didn't have any, they gave you some.
Emo Philips
382 If you carry a gun, people call you paranoid. That's
ridiculous. If I have a gun, what in the hell do I have to
be paranoid about?
Clint Smith
383 Neighbor: "So why do you carry that?"
Me: "I don't want my last thought to be 'Gee, I wish I had a
gun...'."
http://jeffersonian.therealgunguys.com/blog
384 You Know You're A Gun Nut If...
If you cannot recall how many firearms you own,
If you know the difference between a "clip" and a
"magazine,"
If you tape American Shooter so you can pause, reverse and
fast forward to do a complete analysis of the show,
If you ever bought two brands of the same weight and type of
bullet, just to see if one "shot better,"
If you read that "Brady II" would outlaw possession of more
than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and think, "I have more than
that rolling around loose in the trunk of my car!"
If your guns are cleaner than your home,
If you identify the gun on the cover of Dillon's Blue Press
before you notice the girl,
If .22LR cartridges frequently find their way into your
wife's washing machine,
If your gun safe cost more than your dining room set,
If you have Brownells on speed dial,
If you watch old WWII movies and can identify all the rifles
and handguns, but can't remember who starred in the movie or
what it was about,
If you wonder what size rings you would need to mount the
Hubble Space Telescope on a varmint rifle,
If your gun collection is worth more than your automobile,
If your homeowners insurance company would cancel your policy
if they ever knew:
(1) the true value of your firearms
(2) how much ammunition you have stored at home
(3) how much gun powder you have stored
(4) how many primers you have.
Quoted by lilwolf on the internet
385 How do you say 'bad shot' in redneck?
Vegetarian.
Anonymous
386 911: Government sponsored Dial-a-Prayer.
387 Colt: The original point and click interface.
Compilation Copyright © MCR Agency, LLC
Non-commercial use, copying, printing, linking, dissemination and distribution is permitted.
For more information E-Mail: (QuotationWorks@aol.com)
Phone: (800) 347-3434 --- Fax (510) 405-2023 (24hours)