Category Archives: Quote of the Day

Quote of the day–Ben Franklin

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Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.

Ben Franklin
Also attributed to Dale Carnegie.
[I was reminded of this by what The Liberal Doomsayer had to say yesterday on guns. I left a comment which is “awaiting moderation”. In fear of reasoned discourse I am posting it here as well:

The individual right to keep and bear arms has been recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court since at least 1875 (U.S. v. Cruikshank).

It was only in the 20th Century that people attempted to rewrite it to prevent blacks from obtaining firearms. See the link above for more details.

And before you advocate for more infringements on this specific enumerated right please answer Just One Question:

Can you demonstrate one time or place, throughout all history, where the average person was made safer by restricting access to handheld weapons?

–Joe]

Quote of the day–Samuel A. Hill

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Viewed logically, virtually all “gun-control” legislation protects criminals from armed victims.

Think about that for a moment. Law-abiding citizens are prevented from using self-defense and protecting their own life and property.

For most of the past century, “gun-control” laws have been tested in America. Each and every one of them has failed miserably. Criminals and their criminal activities have not been affected by even the most draconian (unconstitutional) laws. The reason for their universal failure is no mystery: Criminals – by definition – do not obey laws!

Ironically, the anti-gun activists use the very fact that “gun-control” legislation is universally ineffective as a rallying cry for more of the same. That is sheer lunacy!

Samuel A. Hill
June 8, 2009
Gun-control laws should be repealed
[It’s as if he had read Just One Question or arrived at the same conclusion on his own. Nice job!–Joe]

Quote of the day–Doug Pennington

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What people don’t realize, at the national level, at least, is that I can count the federal gun laws on the books on one hand. I don’t even need all five fingers to do it.

Doug Pennington
June 7, 2009
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
Gun Loving Sons-of-Guns–How different is Georgia’s attitude about guns from those of other states?
[He goes on to enumerate “the 1934 ban on machine guns”, the Gun Control Act of 1968, and the Brady Law.

Giving him an allowance for NFA34 covering suppressors, short barreled shotguns/rifles in addition to machine guns and that GCA68 covers more than prohibition of felons owning firearms. He conveniently overlooks the following (here and here are partial references):

  • The executive order import bans
  • The “sporting purpose” requirements on imported guns
  • The Hughs Amendment
  • Bans on “destructive devices” which includes some shotguns
  • Restrictions on disguised guns (disguised as pens, cell phones, canes, etc.)
  • Restrictions on handguns with a forward grip
  • Extra taxes on guns and ammo
  • Restrictions on guns near schools
  • Restrictions on sale of a gun to a person in another state
  • Restrictions on how you can ship a firearm
  • Restrictions on firearms on airplanes
  • Restrictions on transporting a firearm while aboard a “common carrier”
  • Age restrictions on gun possession
  • Age restrictions on ammo possession
  • Restrictions on “armor-piercing handgun ammo”
  • Restrictions on sales of multiple handguns to one person within a five day period
  • Documentation of sales via form 4474 which must be stored for 20 years
  • Bans on possession by people convicted of domestic violence

Apparently Pennington is living in an alternate reality from the one I’m living in. But that isn’t surprising. It’s long been known that gun control advocates have mental problems.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Dave Workman

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Gun control, as a philosophy and as a political mechanism, is a flimsy sham. It has become a smoke screen behind which its proponents hide two simple facts: 1) they are more interested in controlling the public than reducing crime, and 2) they are incompetent when it comes to reducing crime.


Dave Workman
May 29, 2009
Gun control laws target wrong people, don’t stop violence
[It’s preaching to the choir but it helps to reinforce the talking points.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Alan Gottlieb

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For years, the gun prohibitionist lobby has perpetuated a sense of fear against armed citizens in various public venues, including restaurants, Yet in Washington State, where the Citizens Committee is headquartered, it has been legal for many years to carry firearms in restaurants that serve alcohol, and it has not resulted in the kind of violence predicted by opponents of the Tennessee measure.


Alan Gottlieb
CCRKBA Chairman
June 4, 2009
CCRKBA SAYS TENNESSEE LAWMAKERS ACTED CORRECTLY ON OVERRIDE
[And here is a list of restaurants that are putting up the equivalent of “no coloreds allowed” signs up in response to the new law.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Ben Franklin

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This will be the best security for maintaining our liberties. A nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the religion of ignorance that tyranny begins.


Ben Franklin
[I can’t say that I disagree. The problem is that people have not been taught to know and prize their rights. Ignorance has been a big part of our country’s downfall. People vote for politicians promising perceived benefits without glimmer of recognition there might be unintended consequences.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Wilhelm Reich

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The fact that political ideologies are tangible realities is not a proof of their vitally necessary character. The bubonic plague was an extraordinarily powerful social reality, but no one would have regarded it as vitally necessary.


Wilhelm Reich
[I’m thinking of dominate political ideologies of Democrats and Republicans. Extraordinarily powerful social realities with the utility of the bubonic plague. That sounds about right.


The major political parties appear to have no principles or underlying philosophy. As near as I can tell they are merely coalitions of people in desire of fame/power/money. Political ideologies based on consistent philosophies such as the Constitution Party or the Libertarian Party are for the most part unable to achieve power. This is in part because they are consistent philosophies which makes them less willing to compromise.


I sometimes fantasize of creating a political system that makes such coalitions of zero or negative value but have been unsuccessful of anything approaching something feasible. I keep coming back to enumerated powers such that the coalitions can’t exceed certain boundaries. We tried that once and look at what we have now. There needs to be a “Fourth Branch of Government” or something that does nothing but permanently nullify laws and remove politicians who voted for them from government if something like 10% of the members think the law violates the constitution.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Reverend Sydney Smith

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When a man is a fool, in England we only trust him with the immortal concerns of human beings.


Reverend Sydney Smith
From the book I Wish I’d Said That! by Nick Harris which gives more background:



In the good/bad old days, a man’s eldest son inherited his estate, another son went into the army — and the dunce went into the Church.


[Perhaps that should now be “When a main is a fool, in the U.S. we only trust him with writing editorials.”


I’m reminded of this because of this dunce who says, “This writer grew up on a farm, enjoying hunting for ducks, geese and pheasants, and in adulthood, shot deer while a pastor in Spearfish.” I don’t intend to tar all pastors and it appears this guy is no longer a pastor anyway. Perhaps he had trouble with comprehension of the Bible as well as the Second Amendment and D.C. v. Heller.


More available from Jeff, Robb, Say Uncle, and Sebastian.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Thomas Jefferson

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That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.


Thomas Jefferson
[One might reasonably conclude that the bailout of the automobile and banking industries is evidence that this principle has been forgotten in the years since Jefferson help found this nations government. But then what do I know? I’m not the constitutional law professor who actually respects the constitution like President Obama.–Joe


Update October 28, 2012: This is a bogus quote. Thoreau said essentially this if you want to quote someone famous on this topic.]

Quote of the day–ErnestThing

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Boomershoot ended as quickly as it began. It only felt like a few hours, but it was most of the day. I guess time flies when you’re blowing shit up.


ErnestThing
May 11, 2009
Boomershoot 2009
[Yeah, time does seem to fly during Boomershoot. I sometimes worry that people aren’t getting their money’s worth out of the event because it’s all over so fast. But people start leaving before I call the final ceasefire so I can’t be that much of a spoil sport.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Evelyn Logan

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ALWAYS take at least one knife to a gunfight, just in case you run out of spare mags.


Evelyn Logan
5/28/2009
From the email list NRAInstructorsRKBA.
[Good point. You don’t have to reload a knife. But as I heard Greg Hamilton once say, “If I run out of ammo there will be lots of unused guns and ammo on the ground for me to pick up.”–Joe]

Quote of the day–Fred Woodworth

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If human beings are fundamentally good, no government is necessary; if they are fundamentally bad, any government, being composed of human beings, would be bad also.


Fred Woodworth
[I think Woodworth overlooks some fundamental issues with things like his opposition to profit in economic relationships and ownership to raw land but I think he makes some valid points about the non-utility of government.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Milton Friedman

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Only government can take perfectly good paper, cover it with perfectly good ink and make the combination worthless.


Milton Friedman
[The Feds are buying debt. Where do you suppose they are getting the money for that? They are printing it.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Josh Horwitz

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It’s time for all advocates of gun violence prevention to stand together and demand principled action from our elected officials. Capitol Hill needs to receive a clear message—they cannot continue to ignore a majority of Americans in order to do the gun lobby’s bidding without paying a price at the ballot box.

Josh Horwitz
Email newsletter
May 26, 2009
Executive Director, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
[Poor Josh, he’s such a Sad Panda. No one is listening to him anymore.

I’ve always wondered what “principles” they adhere to. It’s not some sort of advocacy of safety as they hint at on their web site. If it were then they would be able to answer Just One Question. It’s certainly not constitutional principles or freedom/liberty. As near as I can tell it’s some modern day equivalent of “We don’t want no damn n**gers around here.” It’s no wonder people don’t pay attention. Bigotry is such an ugly thing.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Richard K. Willard

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The link between handgun legality and aggregate crime levels has little constitutional significance. The purpose of the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms is to allow individuals to privately protect themselves, not to reduce overall crime rates or curb gun-related accidents. … The framers knew that an individual right to keep and bear arms would carry with it the risks of crime and accidents, just as an individual right to speak freely carries with it the risk of libel. Faced with these trade-offs, the framers deliberately chose a form of government that can accept such risks as the price for protecting individual liberties.


Richard K. Willard
February 11, 2008
D.C. versus Heller
Brief Amicus Curiae Of The Heartland Institute in support of respondent
[This one is for Lyle. Who, rightly so, says safety is irrelevant to the constitutionality issue.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Xenia Huffman-Scott

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They probably said, “There’s the old guy. He’ll keel over first. Dibs!”


Xenia Huffman-Scott
May 25, 2009
[After hearing that when Kim, Caleb, and I climbed to the top of a cliff on Saturday there were five vultures circling us. Pictures tomorrow.–Joe]

Quote of the day–David B. Kopel

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Robertson v. Baldwin declared “the carrying of concealed weapons” (presumably, handguns and knives) to be an exception to the Second Amendment. 165 U.S. 275, 281-82 (1897). The exception proves the rule: that a ban on all handguns in the home violates the Second Amendment. Similarly, Justice Holmes’ opinion in Patsone v. Pennsylvania upheld a state statute against legal aliens possessing long guns for hunting, because the statute “does not extend to weapons such as pistols that may be supposed to be needed occasionally for self-defence.” 232 U.S. 138, 143 (1914).


David B. Kopel
Brief of The International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA), The International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors (IALEFI), Maryland State Lodge, Fraternal Order of Police, Southern States Police Benevolent Association, 29 Elected California District Attorneys, San Francisco Veteran Police Officers Association, Long Beach Police Officers Association, Texas Police Chiefs Association, Texas Municipal Police Association, New York State Association of Auxiliary Police, Mendocino County, Calif., Sheriff Thomas D. Allman, Oregon State Rep. Andy Olson, National Police Defense Foundation, Law Enforcement Alliance of America, and The Independence Institute as amici curiae in support of respondent. D.C. v. Heller


 

Quote of the day–M. Carol Bambery

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The District’s current prohibition against handguns and immediately serviceable firearms in the home effectively eliminates a woman’s ability to defend her very life and those of her children against violent attack. Women are simply less likely to be able to thwart violence using means currently permitted under D.C. law. Women are generally less physically strong, making it less likely that most physical confrontations will end favorably for women. Women with access to immediately disabling means, however, have been proven to benefit from the equalization of strength differential a handgun provides. Women’s ability to own such serviceable firearms is indeed of even greater importance given the holdings of both federal and state courts that there is no individual right to police protection.


M. Carol Bambery
Brief of amicae curiae 126 women state legislators and academics in support of respondent.

Quote of the day–Dmitry Orlov

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Now, it just so happens that most things that are positives prior to collapse turn out to be negatives once collapse occurs, and vice versa. For instance, prior to collapse having high inventory in a business is bad, because the businesses have to store it and finance it, so they try to have just-in-time inventory. After collapse, high inventory turns out to be very useful, because they can barter it for the things they need, and they can’t easily get more because they don’t have any credit. Prior to collapse, it’s good for a business to have the right level of staffing and an efficient organization. After collapse, what you want is a gigantic, sluggish bureaucracy that can’t unwind operations or lay people off fast enough through sheer bureaucratic foot-dragging. Prior to collapse, what you want is an effective retail segment and good customer service. After collapse, you regret not having an unreliable retail segment, with shortages and long bread lines, because then people would have been forced to learn to shift for themselves instead of standing around waiting for somebody to come and feed them.


Dmitry Orlov
February 13, 2009
Social Collapse Best Practices

Quote of the day–Clayton Cramer

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No matter what other nations may say about the United States, immigration is still the sincerest form of flattery.


Clayton Cramer