Category Archives: Quote of the Day

Quote of the day–Frédéric Bastiat

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If every person has the right to defend–even by force–his person, his liberty, and his property, then it follows that a group of men have the right to organize and support a common force to protect these rights constantly. Thus the principle of collective right — its reason for existing, its lawfulness — is based on individual right. And the common force that protects this collective right cannot logically have any other purpose or any other mission than that for which it acts as a substitute. Thus, since an individual cannot lawfully use force against the person, liberty, or property of another individual, then the common force — for the same reason — cannot lawfully be used to destroy the person, liberty, or property of individuals or groups.

Frédéric Bastiat
The Law — What is Law?
1850

Quote of the day–P. J. O’Rourke

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For the people in government, rather than the people who pester it, Washington is an early-rising, hard-working city. It is a popular delusion that the government wastes vast amounts of money through inefficiency and sloth. Enormous effort and elaborate planning are required to waste this much money.

P. J. O’Rourke
Parliament of Whores
[Adhering to the enumerated powers granted the government would resolve this problem. But of course most people really don’t want this problem solved. They keep telling each other that if just given enough money and power government can solve nearly any problem. Of course most people teach their kids there really is a Santa Claus, an Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy too.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Xenia Huffman-Scott

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BUUURRRRRP!

Bet you’ve never seen a fairy do that.

Xenia Huffman-Scott
May 5, 2007
[She’s 18. It’s too late to teach her manners now.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Abraham Lincoln

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Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.

Abraham Lincoln
[This is why we have a constitution that enumerates the powers of government. Because power is so tempting to abuse.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Benjamin Kaufman

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The morning fireball was amazing. A-MAZE-ING.

Benjamin Kaufman
Boomershoot 2007
See also these posts by Ben about Boomershoot 2007:
http://leroy-brown242.livejournal.com/209809.html
http://leroy-brown242.livejournal.com/207943.html
http://leroy-brown242.livejournal.com/207746.html
[And yes, the morning fireball was really, really good.–Joe]

Quote of the day–“Charlie”

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The NRA should be banned as a terrorist organization. They have contributed to more deaths in the United States than any other terrorist group.

Charlie
Your Thoughts on How to Stop the Gun Lobby
Freedom State Alliance
[How ironic. The “Freedom State Alliance” endorsing the suppression of free speech, free association, and other freedoms. They have mental problems.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Scott A. Kjar

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So however much some people might yearn for gun control, it seems unlikely that it would have prevented Cho from achieving his ends. He had substitutes available, he had more than one means available to achieve his ends, and he plotted long enough to hit upon other means — especially since those other means are described in detail on TV, in the newspapers, and on the internet every day.

Scott A. Kjar
May 2, 2007
Why Economists Tend to Oppose Gun Control Laws
[With the doors chained shut even a crude sword would have been a sufficient substitute against the victims disarmed by the bigoted politicians. And as others (Was it Ry? Or was it son James?) have pointed out, “You don’t have to reload your edged weapon.” A few gallons of gasoline and a book of matches would have been rather effective in that environment as well.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Leah Woodward

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Les Baer Custom is Illinois’ garbage. Assault weapons manufacturers in Illinois are getting kicked to the curb. And for good reason.

Leah Woodward
April 30, 2007
Executive director of Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence
LeClaire council holds off vote on Les Baer Custom Inc.
[Bigots. Imagine the uproar if it were blacks or gays moving out of a place where the laws were hostile to them and at the proposed destination people called them garbage.–Joe]

Quote of the day–P.J. O’Rourke

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America wasn’t founded so that we could all be better.  America was founded so we could all be anything we damn well pleased.

P.J. O’Rourke

Quote of the day–Ry Jones

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If you going to do something you might as well overdo it.

Ry Jones
April 29, 2007
[That works on so many levels for Ry. This time it was in reference to his construction of the fireball target for Boomershoot 2007. It worked well. It was also more “entertainingly close” than I and some of the audience really wanted. None of the injuries broke the skin or required medical attention. See also Ry’s blog post.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Sean Flynn

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Do you guys think that was even remotely funny?

Good!

That indicates you have at least a tenuous grasp on reality.

Sean Flynn
April 28, 2007
[I think maybe Rolf’s and Tim’s puns were a little over the top at the time. But when you’ve been making explosives for hours a little release of tension is required now and then.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Rolf Nelson

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Who would have thought? British targets.

Rolf Nelson
April 27, 2007
[At the time Rolf and Sean were putting lime in the targets to be used at Boomershoot on Sunday. With Rolf the puns materialize at about the rate of one a minute for every waking minute you are around him. At least he shares that many. It could be he only shares a fraction of the ones he comes up with. Whatever the case, Rolf comes up with more puns per unit time than anyone else I know by at least a couple orders of magnitude. The lime is to reduce the acidity of the soil to help control the lead from the bullets. It also make a more visual display as it is scattered by the explosion.–Joe]


Sean and Rolf helping make the “boomers” today.

Quote of the day–Jeff Soyer

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Joe Huffman’s Boomershoot! 2007 is upon us — this weekend, in fact. This is a terrific, exciting event Joe puts on each year in Idaho. Be there or be square.

Jeff Soyer
April 26, 2007
Boomershoot!
[Technically it’s the Lewiston Pistol Club’s Boomershoot but if I got tired of doing it no one else would take it over. So, in a practical sense it is my event. Also of possible interest is that I’m sitting on the shooting berm at position 41 looking down range at the wind flags and steel set up for the Precision Rifle Clinic tomorrow and Saturday. Yes, free WiFi at Boomershoot.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Tommi Avicolli Mecca

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Gun control is for sissies.

Tommi Avicolli Mecca
Beyond Chron April 24‚ 2007
[He is being sarcastic but I like to take the one line seriously. It’s this sort of behavior that is conformation that we are winning. He doesn’t even attempt to engage in an intellectual debate.–Joe]

Quote of the day–David Lapidus

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If more gun control doesn’t mitigate crime, then what does it do? Look no further than any authoritarian state or society in history. Look no further than our own Southern backyard under the Jim Crow laws — laws that in many states still had a significant presence only 50 years ago. What was one of the first things these laws did to Southern blacks? They took their guns away. In a society where even the authorities were complacent with lynching and other hate crimes, whom else could a law-abiding citizen turn to for defense against a frequently racist government and society than himself? As in many other instances of the past, gun control was used to oppress people, to remove checks and balances on despicable government policies and, in short, to do what it implies: control.

David Lapidus
April 24, 2007
Gun control unfair to law-abiding citizens
The Badger Herald

Quote of the day–Brad Bumsted

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All the gun laws in the world wouldn’t have stopped a lunatic like Cho Seung-Hui.

Brad Bumsted
April 23, 2007
Extreme Gun Control
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
[This is from an article that implies more gun control would be a good thing. You didn’t hear this sort of thing from anti-gun people after Columbine. We have made a lot of progress.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Lord Acton

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The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities.

Lord Acton
[Gun owners are a minority and are severely harassed via registration, regulation, and media attacks that would never be tolerated were they aimed at other minorities of racial, religious, or sexual orientation composition.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Union Leader

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You can say that one gun on campus is one too many. But it is and always will be impossible to prevent a determined person with ill intent from smuggling one (or more) onto campus. The best defense against such people is to increase the number of armed good guys so that there is always someone nearby able to respond.

Union Leader
April 18, 2007
Guns on campus: One is one too few

Quote of the day–This Is London

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Use of spy cameras in modern-day Britain is now a chilling mirror image of Orwell’s fictional world, created in the post-war Forties in a fourth-floor flat overlooking Canonbury Square in Islington, North London.

On the wall outside his former residence – flat number 27B – where Orwell lived until his death in 1950, an historical plaque commemorates the anti-authoritarian author. And within 200 yards of the flat, there are 32 CCTV cameras, scanning every move.

Orwell’s view of the tree-filled gardens outside the flat is under 24-hour surveillance from two cameras perched on traffic lights.

The flat’s rear windows are constantly viewed from two more security cameras outside a conference centre in Canonbury Place.

In a lane, just off the square, close to Orwell’s favourite pub, the Compton Arms, a camera at the rear of a car dealership records every person entering or leaving the pub.

Within a 200-yard radius of the flat, there are another 28 CCTV cameras, together with hundreds of private, remote-controlled security cameras used to scrutinise visitors to homes, shops and offices.

The message is reminiscent of a 1949 poster to mark the launch of Orwell’s 1984: ‘Big Brother is Watching You’.

This Is London
George Orwell, Big Brother is watching your house
March 31, 2007
[Via a chain of links I followed starting with Uncle.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Alec McCol

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19 April 1993 was the first time since the Spanish Inquisition that people have been burned alive for their religious beliefs.

Alec McCol
In Soldier of Fortune referring to the Waco massacre.