Second Amendment Quotes

An efficient militia is authorized and contemplated by the Constitution and required by the spirit and safety of free government. ~ James Madison

The NRA is an outdated special interest group. The Association's membership does not have the best interests of our students or the safety of our schools in mind. Its' influence must be diminished and ultimately destroyed. The NRA has our fallen friends' blood on its hands. ~ Mark M. Bello

A man's life consist not of the things he possess, nor Facebook likes and approval.But some of it damn sure consist of his favorite hobbies and love of girls with guns ~ Herbert M. Brunner

I understand the Second Amendment. I respect the Second Amendment. I think we need to use common sense tools to keep the American people safe, to keep our streets safe. ~ Eric Holder

I never bought into the whole "second amendment" argument as it relates to the 21st century. Originally, it was put into place for the simple reason that our forefathers were fighting or had just fought off a government that threatened them with weapons. If those in the revolution had no weapons, there would be no United States of America, but rather New England of the New World. So, I understood why they thought it was so important. ~ Martin Manley

First, the firearms industry has been around and has been respected for generations. They provide a valuable service and a highly desirable product to millions of sportsmen and supporters of those second amendment rights. ~ Cliff Stearns

[The] National Rifle Association is always arguing that the Second Amendment determines the right to bear arms. But I think it really is the people's right to bear arms in a militia. The NRA thinks it protects their right to have Teflon-coated bullets. But that's not the original understanding. ~ Robert Bork

I suggest due process, speedy trials, and public hangings. ~ L. Neil Smith

SECOND AMENDMENT
A "well-regulated militia" means regulated by the government. We need prudent regulation for guns. Let's all accept that. We don't need anyone to have machine guns. We can wait a little while on a background check (but if you're white with a bowl cut, then you have to go to the back of the line, Preston). Support prudent legislation designed to keep other guns away from the mentally ill and criminal elements. If you're paranoid that all these laws are designed to take away your gun, then we're going to assume you're mentally ill or criminal. But now let's be clear: guns rock. Hunting is awesome. Keep your guns. But, like, we gotta regulate 'em, y'all. We have to. ~ Trae Crowder

I am a 5'1 petite female. My pistol is my equalizer. ~ Gina Loudon

Never before did the second amendment mean so much to the people of the United States. There were many well-regulated militias that became necessary for the security of every state, which meant the right of the people to keep and bear arms was detrimental for their survival and that right should not be infringed. Otherwise, the strong would surely overpower the weak. ~ Jason Medina

The health of the second amendment is the primary indicator of the overall health of the nation. ~ John Longenecker

We've got some people who think Shariah law oughta be the law of the land, forget the Constitution. But the guns are there, the Second Amendment is there, to make sure all of the rest of the amendments are followed. ~ Louie Gohmert

Just as the First and Fourth Amendment secure individual rights of speech and security respectively, the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. This view of the text comports with the all but unanimous understanding of the Founding Fathers. ~ John Ashcroft

Chief Justice Warren Burger, a conservative appointed by Richard Nixon, described the new interpretation of the Second Amendment in an interview after his tenure as 'one of the greatest pieces of fraud-I repeat the word FRAUD-on the American public by special-interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime. ~ Fareed Zakaria

What I don't want to do is restrict law-abiding citizens from their Second Amendment rights, which are focused on freedom. I point out all the time. Remember, bad guys aren't stupid, they're just bad. ~ Jim Jordan

Gun control? My wife had a job for three years before she found out that her boss was a convicted sex offender - a child molester. She used to take our son to work with her. When we found out, she quit her job and filed for unemployment, but was denied because she didn't have to quit. That's a true story. I wonder what would happen if a young child walked into a room full of child molesters and executed them with an AR-15? What would congress have to say about gun control then? ~ Aaron B. Powell

You know why there's a Second Amendment? In case the government fails to follow the first one. ~ Rush Limbaugh

There is no end to observations on the difference between the measures likely to be pursued by a minister backed by a standing army, and those of a court awed by the fear of an armed people. ~ James Burgh

Our love affair with guns has nothing to do with tyranny, or militias, or self-preservation. Just ask any NRA member the following: If Jesus Christ himself were to come down off the cross and grant you one wish, would you opt for a world without guns
or the one we live in now? If every gun owner truly feared for their life and liberty, the answer would be obvious. But it's not about life and liberty. It's all about the sheer hard-on of owning a gun. ~ Quentin R. Bufogle

Fellas. Those are some nice guns. The Second Amendment is as American as yummy apple pie and after you are drenched in my semen you will taste just as delicious. ~ Mandy De Sandra

I strongly believe that the Second Amendment creates an individual right to possess and use guns for purposes of both hunting and self-defense. ~ Cass Sunstein

The Second Amendment reveals a profound principle of American government - the principle of civilian ascendency over the military. ~ William O. Douglas

The nation is arming. What are they arming for if it isn't that they are so distrustful of their government? They're afraid they'll have to fight for their liberty in more Second Amendment kinds of ways. ~ Sharron Angle

The right of ordinary citizens to possess weapons is the most extraordinary, most controversial, and least understood of those liberties secured by Englishmen and bequeathed to their American colonists. It lies at the very heart of the relationship between the individual and his fellows, and between the individual and his government. ~ Joyce Lee Malcolm

The Bill of Rights is a literal and absolute document. The First Amendment doesn't say you have a right to speak out unless the government has a 'compelling interest' in censoring the Internet. The Second Amendment doesn't say you have the right to keep and bear arms until some madman plants a bomb. The Fourth Amendment doesn't say you have the right to be secure from search and seizure unless some FBI agent thinks you fit the profile of a terrorist. The government has no right to interfere with any of these freedoms under any circumstances. ~ Harry Browne

I'm a defender of the Second Amendment to the Constitution. ~ Joe Manchin

The people will not understand the importance of the Second Amendment until it is too late. ~ Thomas Jefferson

We have a few chicken-shit senators who are afraid of the NRA and its ilk, but with the right tweaks, I still think you have a shot . . . ~ Mark M. Bello

I don't understand why it's controversial for law-abiding citizens protecting themselves under the Second Amendment. ~ Jerry Falwell, Jr.

Regulated" rights are not rights. They are niceties and platitudes intended to keep the populace thinking their individual autonomy is respected by their government. ~ A.E. Samaan

From gun shows, where they openly promote their product by imploring customers to buy "while you still can," to homegrown militias who apparently believe in their blessed little hearts that they, a group of overweight forty-and fifty-year-old men who have never even had Boy Scout–level training and can't jog a mile, are the protectors of America, the Second Amendment has by far got to be the most countercultured of all the amendments. Obviously, there are groups that take the First Amendment very seriously, but it's tough to imagine a group of soccer moms getting together on the weekends to discuss "tactics" on how to keep free speech alive and comparing notes on their sweet new semiautomatic megaphones they use to proudly shout about their rights at "free speech shows. ~ Trae Crowder

He wants to be perceived as a hero to people who have been bullied and not as a deranged lunatic who committed mass murder without rational explanation . . . ~ Mark M. Bello

I'm not in the leftist controlled Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because of my political views, primarily my lifelong militant support of the NRA, the Second Amendment, and my belief that the only good bad guy is a dead bad guy. ~ Ted Nugent

As gun owners, my husband and I understand that the Second Amendment is most at risk when a criminal or deranged person commits a gun crime. These acts only embolden those who oppose gun ownership. Promoting responsible gun laws protects the Second Amendment and reduces lives lost from guns. ~ Gabrielle Giffords

I ask you sir, who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people. ~ George Mason

The people have a right to keep and bear arms. ~ Patrick Henry

While the gun lobby sought to close the courthouse door to all legitimate claims, Zack and other clever lawyers often artfully dodge these efforts with carefully crafted pleadings and appropriate argument, successfully litigating their claims, and holding gun companies responsible. ~ Mark M. Bello

The Second Amendment, like all of our rights, is reliant on a moral and virtuous people. Without that, nothing else matters. Man can not rule himself if ... moral sentiment is missing. ~ Glenn Beck

The Second Amendment of our Bill of Rights is my Concealed Weapons Permit, period. ~ Ted Nugent

I think the shooter is Kevin Burns. I know him pretty well. Maybe I can talk him down."
"Are you nuts? He's crazy. Everyone knows he's a lunatic. No one can talk him down. Get out of there!"
"I can't sit around and do nothing. I have to do something. Remember what Mom and Dad told us after Father Gerry? If you have a chance to save or protect innocent people, you have to make that sacrifice. I won't let another predator get the best of me."
"That's not what they meant, you idiot! Get the hell out of there and let the police handle it. I'm sure they're on their way!"
"If anything happens to me, I want you to know you're the best little brother a guy could hope for, squirt. Take care. I love you."
"I love you too. Please don't do anything stupid."
"We're going to get out of this together. Understand? We're best brothers, forever."
"Forever, bro . . . ~ Mark M. Bello

I have no reason to suppose that he, who would take away my Liberty, would not when he had me in his Power, take away everything else. ~ John Locke

If the dad has a criminal record, he shouldn't have been able to purchase the guns, and we've got a serious problem."
Barrington unloads again. "I pay you a lot of money to prevent us from having a serious problem. Take care of it, dammit! ~ Mark M. Bello

The urban barbarism that has turned our streets into battlegrounds and our classrooms into killing fields will not be stopped by an assault on the Second Amendment right of American gunowners to keep and bear arms. ~ Pat Buchanan

She is running around talking about how this is an insult to sportsmen, how she values the Second Amendment. She's talking like she's Annie Oakley. ~ Barack Obama

The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed - where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once. ~ Alex Kozinski

No parent should lose a son or daughter, no teacher should lose a student, no sibling should lose a brother or sister, and no student should lose a best friend or a teacher. ~ Mark M. Bello

Thank God for the second amendment. ~ Jesse Petersen

Whatever right the Second Amendment protects is not as important as it was 200 years ago ... The government should deconstitutionalize the subject by repealing the embarrasing Amendment. ~ George Will

So, when a judge requests your services as a 'personal favor,' declining representation is out of the question, unless you don't mind appearing in front of a pissed-off judge with a long memory. ~ Mark M. Bello

Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. ~ George Washington

We hear these people argue that, somehow, we are trying to strip people of their constitutional rights. What about our constitutional rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? It's difficult to achieve those rights when you're dead. ~ Mark M. Bello

The most effective way to find ourselves enslaved will not be done openly. If weakened we will sink gradually. I ask, who are the militia? They consist of the whole people, ... except a few public officers. ~ Thomas Jefferson

GUNS ARE NOT THE ISSUE. WE ARE. ~ Aaron B. Powell

The Right is General - It might be supposed from the phraseology of this provision that the right to keep and bear arms was only guaranteed to the militia but this would be an interpretation not warranted by the intent. The militia as has been elsewhere explained consists of those persons who under the law are liable to the performance of military duty and are officered and enrolled for service when called upon. But the law may make provision for the enrollment of all who are fit to perform military duty or of a small number only or it may wholly omit to make any provision at all and if the right were limited to those enrolled the purpose of this guaranty might be defeated altogether by the action or neglect to act of the government it was meant to hold in check. The meaning of the provision undoubtedly is that the people from whom the militia must be taken shall have the right to keep and bear arms and they need no permission or regulation of law for the purpose. ~ Thomas McIntyre Cooley

I'm a big supporter of the Second Amendment. But I think I have a First Amendment right not to be shot. ~ Michael Nutter

Zack is suddenly torn between client obligation and representation on the one hand, and due process and civil and criminal rights on the other. Burns is a child. I'd give him the same advice. Do I need his testimony? ~ Mark M. Bello

Recent school shootings have lured ill-informed Americans into a war on our Second Amendment guarantees, led by the nation's tyrants and their useful idiots ... The Second Amendment was given to us as protection against tyranny by the federal government and the Congress of the United States. ~ Walter E. Williams

Jennifer's eyes begin to water again. "Don't let anything bad happen to him, Dr. Sampson. My husband is a famous lawyer. He sues doctors when they screw up."
"Jennifer!" Zack exclaims, embarrassed. ~ Mark M. Bello

Politicians need to rethink their reflexive invocations of the Second Amendment and the idea that the gun lobby is too powerful to challenge. ~ David Ignatius

Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state lives at the expense of everyone. ~ Frederic Bastiat

As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize, ... The people are confirmed by the next article in their right to keep and bear arms. ~ Tench Coxe

Guy tries to buy a gun, but when he returns, he learns he's failed the background check. 'Oh well,' the guy tells himself. 'It was worth a try.' The dealer says to the guy, 'Hold the phone, buddy. Ask a friend, your brother, your sister, anyone you know, to come in, pass the background check, and we'll sell the guns to them instead of you. What happens to them afterward is none of our business . . . ~ Mark M. Bello

The fundamental force behind the Second Amendment is to empower the people and give them the greatest measure of authority over the tyranny of runaway government. ~ Bob Schaffer

If guns don't kill people, why do mass killers arm themselves with guns? ~ DaShanne Stokes

The Second Amendment, like the rest of the Bill of Rights, was meant to inhibit only the federal government, not the states. The framers, as The Federalist Papers attest (see No. 28), saw the state militias as forces that might be summoned into action against the federal government itself, if it became tyrannical. ~ Joseph Sobran

It's part of the Constitution. People have the right to bear arms. Then the restrictions of it have to be reasonable and sensible. You can't just remove that right. You've got to regulate, consistent with the Second Amendment. ~ Rudy Giuliani

The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered as the palladium of the liberties of a republic ... ~ Joseph Story

Ladies and gentlemen, after Columbine, Newtown, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, San Bernardino, Orlando, Vegas, Parkland and now in our own community, one thing should be clear to citizens and politicians alike. Our society needs stricter laws for people who purchase guns for the purpose of perpetrating criminal acts. We need tougher laws for people who buy guns to sell to criminals or kids. These laws should severely punish anyone in these categories - neither suggestion steps on the Second Amendment . . . ~ Mark M. Bello

If a buyer is having trouble getting a gun in Michigan, he or she just travels to Ohio or Indiana or Illinois. You know what I mean?"
~ Mark M. Bello

Oh-h, I see. So are you saying that the Second Amendment is every bit as important as the first? But a lot of people say it's not an individual right, that it's not even needed anymore. The crime rate is way down you know." "The Second Amendment will always be needed, if for no other reason than to protect your right to publish free of government censorship. The Second Amendment is the one right that protects all others. It's about accountability. An armed society is all that holds the government accountable to the people who elected them. All people are inherently flawed. We are predisposed toward selfishness and vain ambition. ~ Skip Coryell

The Second Amendment is timeless for our Founders grasped that self-defense is three-fold: every free individual must protect themselves against the evil will of the man, the mob and the state. ~ Tiffany Madison

My excellent colleagues have forgotten these bitter lessons of history. The prospect of tyranny may not grab the headlines the way vivid stories of gun crime usually do. But few saw the Third Reich coming until it was too late. The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed only for those exceptionally rare circumstances when all other rights have failed. A free people can only afford to make this mistake once. ~ Alex Kozinski

Little more can reasonably be aimed at with respect to the people at large than to have them properly armed. ~ Alexander Hamilton

May we have Kenny's iPhone and your younger son's, what's his name? We need to obtain copies of these texts."
"His name is Jake. I'm sure it's fine. You know kids, though. I suggest you get what you need quickly. If you keep their phones for too long, there will be hell to pay," Zack chuckles.
"Don't I know it," Ross laughs. "I've got a teenaged girl. Girls are much worse than boys. ~ Mark M. Bello

The Second Amendment only protects the people who want all the guns they can have. The rest of us, we've got no Second Amendment. What are we supposed to do? ~ Louise Slaughter

If we're going to change the laws, let's change them in ways which makes it easier to catch criminals, and yet at the same time protect the Second Amendment rights of our law-abiding citizens. ~ John Dingell

Our supportfor assault weapons ban is very broad ... I think we've got all the police, we have all the mayors virtually - the conference of mayors, mayors against guns. We have medical experts, we have virtually dozens of religious organizations of every creed supporting us. We have just lists and lists. ~ Dianne Feinstein

Foolish liberals who are trying to read the Second Amendment out of the Constitution by claiming it's not an individual right or that it's too much of a public safety hazard, don't see the danger in the big picture. They're courting disaster by encouraging others to use the same means to eliminate portions of the Constitution they don't like. ~ Alan M. Dershowitz

Without either the first or second amendment, we would have no liberty; the first allows us to find out what's happening, the second allows us to do something about it! The second will be taken away first, followed by the first and then the rest of our freedoms. ~ Andrew Ford

Perhaps the deterioration of American education is illustrated by the high correlation between the number of years a person has attended school and his inability to understand the words "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." It is more likely, though, that those who interpret the Second Amendment to preclude an individual right to own guns are driven by their political agenda. Whichever the case, they do themselves no credit when they tell us that a simple, elegant sentence means the opposite of what it clearly says. ~ Sheldon Richman

The Second Amendment says we have the right to bear arms, not to bear artillery. ~ Robin Williams

The Second Amendment is not really a right. ~ Rosie O'Donnell

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

There is a sort of Neo-Confederate thread that runs through these sort of pro-gun movements and the NRA movement. ~ Joy-Ann Reid

. . . the Sixth Amendment is sacrosanct and guarantees everyone the right to a fair trial. You're either for the Constitution or against it. You can't pick and choose your favorite amendments. Why, Ted, is the Second more important than the Sixth? ~ Mark M. Bello

How can I be friendly to someone who clearly wants no friends? ~ Mark M. Bello

No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms. ~ Thomas Jefferson

When unspeakable violence is enacted upon innocents, say, in a school or movie theatre, and the survivors and the families of the victims, in the throes of pain and anguish, want to ask, "Why did this happen?," "How did this happen?," and "What can we do to prevent this from happening again?," and one of the areas they (still we) focus their scrutiny is that of the highly efficient weapons of warfare that are casually available to us citizens of the United States, then we frightened gun owners have the chance to be human and say, "Okay, this is a horrible tragedy. Let's open up a conversation here." Instead, I'm surmising, out of fear, we throw up our defenses and behave in a very confrontational way toward such a conversation , citing the Second Amendment as the ultimate protection of our rights, no matter how ridiculously murderous the firearm, which, unfortunately, makes us look like dicks. ~ Nick Offerman

Where is outrage from the National Rifle Association? Where's the damned NRA? The NRA claims to believe the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States grants all of our citizens the right to survive and protect their families with any gun they want. I guess that's only true when those citizens are Caucasian! Does the Second Amendment apply if you're a black man driving through a white neighborhood? ~ Mark M. Bello

Americans have the right under the Second Amendment to own firearms, and that is not going to change. ~ Wendy Davis

I'm 100 percent behind the Second Amendment. I believe it's not just a hunting right. It's a right for everyone to carry their weapons. ~ Raul Labrador

If a responsible, mentally sound American wants to own and AR-15, that's their right. Besides, when the zombies come ... okay, you don't like the zombie thing. When the Chinese invade our country, who do you want to depend on? The over-extended police force and the National Guard? Or the next door neighbor who's a former Marine and has enough guns and ammunition for your entire block? ~ Aaron B. Powell

Let's remember, the Second Amendment has been around for over 200 years. ~ Rick Scott

Guns are a necessary tool designed to help your people avoid a repeat of history. ~ A.E. Samaan

The First Amendment is crucial. Of course it is. So are all the others. And the Second Amendment is the one that guarantees that people can bear arms to protect themselves. ~ Charlton Heston

If you want a candidate to defend life and marriage and religious liberty and the Second Amendment and to appoint strong constitutionalists to the court, I'm the only candidate with that record. That's why conservatives are uniting behind our campaign. And if they want to continue with the attacks, that's their prerogative. ~ Ted Cruz

From Zachary Blake? Not a chance in hell. All his cases are high-profile. And these days, he's got a Midas touch. Every case he touches turns to gold. Blake is on a personal crusade for civil justice and safety - truth, justice, and the American way, don't you know? Guns are an excellent target issue for someone like him. ~ Mark M. Bello

Let's create a regime that makes sale of bullets to anybody not licensed to carry a gun illegal, makes resale illegal, micro-stamps bullets so they can be traced. No Second Amendment issues here. This would have a remarkable impact on both violence and the capacity to solve shooting crimes. ~ Eliot Spitzer

He, Jeff, and Troy Lee carried Super Soakers loaded with Grandma Lee's Vampire Cat Remedy, other Animals had garden sprayers slung on their backs, except for Gustavo, who thought that making him carry a garden sprayer was racial stereotyping. Gustavo had a flame thrower. He wouldn't say where he got it.
"Second Amendment, cabrones." (The guy who sold Gustavo his green card had included two amendments from the Bill of Rights and Gustavo had chosen Two and Four, the right to bear arms and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. [His sister Estrella had had seizures as a child. No bueno.] For five bucks extra he threw in the Third Amendment, which Gustavo bought because he was already sharing a three-bedroom house in Richmond with nineteen cousins and they didn't have any room to quarter soldiers.) ~ Christopher Moore