Courage and conviction are powerful weapons against an enemy who depends only on fists or guns. Animals know when you are afraid; a coward knows when you are not.
David Seabury
[Good advice when you in a situation where you fear for your personal safety. We teach this concept in NRA Personal Protection classes.–Joe]
Citizens have the natural right and the common sense duty to protect themselves, their families, their communities, and their property…guns are the equalizing tools of self-protection, utopian lamentations notwithstanding.
Edgar A. Suter
If somebody brings up guns I’m going to shoot ’em.
James Carville
November 22, 2006
Democratic strategist
Election changes hue of red states
News Observer via Alphecca
[I’d like to suggest someone makes sure Mr. Carville gets some good training and lots of practice time at the range.–Joe]
I do not believe in people owning guns. Guns should be owned only by the police and military. I am going to do everything I can to disarm this state.
Michael Dukakis
Then governor of Massachusetts, 1986
[Todays QOTD was inspired by this post from Say Uncle.–Joe]
Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?
Joseph Stalin
[And hence, you can conclude that the left has a vested interest in not wanting people to think as well as own guns.–Joe]
Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.
Elwyn Brooks White
(1899 – 1985)
New Yorker, July 3, 1944
[White wrote both Stuart Little, published in 1945, and Charlotte’s Web, published in 1952. People with children will recognize these books. He was also the author of The Elements of Style Illustrated–professional writers will instantly recognize this title.–Joe]
Only a ghost can exist without material property; only a slave can work with no right to the product of his effort. The doctrine that ‘human rights’ are superior to ‘property rights’ simply means that some human beings have the right to make property out of others; since the competent have nothing to gain from the incompetent, it means the right of the incompetent to own their betters and to use them as productive cattle. Whoever regards this as human and right, has no right to the title of ‘human.’
John Galt
A character in the book Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
[How fortuitous that I should be listening to this particular portion of Atlas Shrugged within minutes of getting a pointer from Phil to the article about the Massachusetts Health Insurance Plan costing $151 million more than expected. Universal health care is NOT a right. It is the taking of one man’s property at the point of a gun and giving it to another who did not earn it. In other words it is a form of slavery.–Joe]
It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself. Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors?
Thomas Jefferson
Notes on the State of Virginia
1781
[Although this is widely attributed to Jefferson and this particular set of documents I have been unable to find it here.–Joe]
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
Every Man Should have a Rifle
[As applicable here and now as it was there and then (Australia in 1907). Found via posts by Say Uncle and Alphecca.–Joe]
MAN: A biodegradable but nonrecyclable animal blessed with opposable thumbs capable of grasping at straws.
Bernard Rosenberg
Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.
Gore Vidal
In A View from the Diner’s Club (1991)
Gods and Greens
Observer (London, Aug. 27, 1989)
Honorable: Afflicted with an impediment in one’s reach. In legislative bodies, it is customary to mention all members as honorable; as, “the honorable gentleman is a scurvy cur.”
Ambrose Bierce
The Devil’s Dictionary
Where we have enjoyed a pretty solid 25 to 30 vote majority, we must now get by with a somewhat less reliable 11 to 16 vote advantage – keeping in mind that we’re talking about politicians so they’re unpredictable and require constant supervision.
Jeff Knox
Director of Operations
The Firearms Coalition
November 13, 2006
Analysis and Action Plan
fcalerts-list — News from The Firearms Coalition
Putting makeup on her is like putting makeup on a super model.
LaffeeTaffee @ xyzmail.com (email address disguised to prevent spam)
November 12, 2006
Macy’s in the Spokane Valley Mall
[While doing a “makeover” on our daughter Kim.–Joe]
At the constitutional level where we work, 90 percent of any decision is emotional. The rational part of us supplies the reasons for supporting our predilections.
William O. Douglas
[A lawyer recently told me something very similar. But it was perhaps a bit more cynical–or was it simply more truthful?–Joe]
It’s an ominous day: The enemy has occupied headquarters, control has fallen into their hands, and freedom is once again calling for her defenders.
Wayne LaPierre
November 9, 2006
http://www.nranews.com/blogarticle.aspx?blogPostId=61
[A little over the top perhaps but I can’t see that it hurts to mobilize the troops.–Joe]
For every attacker shot and killed in self-defense, 130 Americans are killed by guns for other reasons.
Mother Jones
Who We Kill
March/April 1996 Issue
The MoJo Wire and MOTHER JONES are projects of the Foundation for National Progress. A nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.
Founded in 1975 to educate and empower people to work toward progressive change.
[Another case of using the wrong metric. The correct metric is attacks stopped, not attackers killed.–Joe]
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and then applying the wrong remedies.
Groucho Marx
[I expect we will be seeing a lot more of this soon.–Joe]
Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.
John Quincy Adams
Hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against.
W. C. Fields