Father of the slain girl spoke on the Today Show yesterday.
He has something to say to all of those that want to make our society less free (at 9:35):
THE ATTACK IS A PRICE OF A FREE SOCIETY.
I PREFER THIS TO THE ALTERNATIVE.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/40998602#40998602
Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither.Benjamin Franklin
Your constitution is pretty simple and well thought out but c'mon, do you really think they intended to have people running round with guns in everyday life?
Yes they did.
Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. – James Madison
The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed. – Alexander HamiltonLaws that forbid the carrying of arms... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. - Thomas Jefferson's "Commonplace Book," 1774-1776
Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our 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
..arms...discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. ...Horrid mischief would ensue were (the law-abiding) deprived the use of them. -- Thomas Paine
"The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed." --Thomas Jefferson
We should not forget that the spark which ignited the American Revolution was caused by the British attempt to confiscate the firearms of the colonists. - Patrick Henry
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." -- The Federalist, No. 46
- James Madison
"The great object is, that every man be armed."
- Patrick Henry
"And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peacable citizens, from keeping their own arms; Samuel Adams, Debates of the Massachusetts Convention of 1788
GEORGE WASHINGTON (First President)
- "Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the people's liberty teeth keystone... the rifle and the pistol are equally indispensable... more than 99% of them by their silence indicate that they are in safe and sane hands. The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference. When firearms go, all goes, we need them every hour." (Address to 1st session of Congress)
"The few cases wherein these things (proposed Bill of Rights) may do evil, cannot be weighed against the multitude where the want of them will do evil...I hope therefore a bill of rights will be formed to guard the people against the federal government..." (Jefferson letter to Madison 31 July 1788, The Papers of James Madison, Hobson & Rutland, p.11:212)