beccaria_1

“False is the idea of utility that sacrifices a thousand real advantages for one imaginary or trifling inconvenience; that would take fire from men because it burns, and water because one may drown in it; that has no remedy for evils, except destruction. The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm those only who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.” – Cesare Beccaria (1738–1794) quoted in The Right to Arms and the American Philosophy of Freedom (via heritage.org)

bfg-long-logo-blue-jpg-220x39

h/t Louis Bonham

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

37 COMMENTS

    • TTAG readers need to know that Don Kates, attorney, civil rights advocate, and scholar and activist for the Second since the 1970s, died earlier this month. Hope you all will Google his name to see the works he produced. His scholarly publications inspired others to research this otherwise ignored Amendment, leading to a scholarly appreciation of 2A.
      Good shooting in Spirit Land, Don. Thanks for your contributions to civil liberties and individual rights. You’ve scored a bullseye for the Second and all of us.

  3. They try and they do.
    Steps are taken to limit access to fire, water and arms to only the chosen people through regulation and permitting schemes.

    I’m long past tired of being chained, regulated, taxed and scolded for the actions, kinetic or potential, of others.

    • “I’m long past tired of being chained, regulated, taxed and scolded for the actions, kinetic or potential, of others.”

      Are you also long past tired of being chained, regulated, taxed, and scolded for simply being alive and having harmed no one else?

    • I agree: tyrants have a zero tolerance policy when little people refuse to comply with any and all of their whims and tyrants’ paid enforcers will shoot little people who refuse to comply.

      Oh wait, did you mean that we should not tolerate tyrants and shoot them?

    • One of my favorite quotes from a rather silly movie applies perfectly….

      “All I know is the soldiers are quite happy shooting the people who say the people are not happy”

      Don Diego to Ms Charlotte Taylor Wilson in Zorro, the Gay Blade.

  5. “I’m long past tired of being chained, regulated, taxed and scolded for the actions, kinetic or potential, of others” – Shire-man.

    Nice.

    • “I’m long past tired of being chained, regulated, taxed and scolded for the actions, kinetic or potential, of others”
      – Shire-man.

      Perfect!

      • That’s because bumper stickers are the tool of idiots, and ours is not an idiotic cause (“if it saves one life” is idiotic, because the corollary “even if it costs thousands” doesn’t fit the sticker)

  7. In other words: only the law-abiding are constrained by laws?

    Well now, that’s just crazy talk. And perhaps a microaggression. Where is my safe space?

  8. Or as liberals as of late have been saying…
    “You don’t need guns because the government can’t turn tyrannical!”

    …then some time shortly after followed by…
    “Trump is literally Hitler!”

    • Which is a patently ridiculous thing to say. I mean really. Trump isn’t remotely as good a public speaker as Hitler was,

    • Lol Liberal logic: “Trump is a racist idiot who can’t think his way out of a cardboard box”… same liberal 2 weeks later ” Trump is an evil computer expert espionage mastermind who is colluding with the Kremlin to overthrow American Democracy”… they can’t get their crazy straight.

    • If Trump is Hitler, then liberal/progressives will need to arm up to protect themselves. The irony is great!

    • hell, yeah!

      ahm tard of all this election crap. cain’t wait ’til “the morning after”, so’s we kin get on with impeachin’ clinton, or buildin’ the coalition tuh keep trump from doin’ too much damage. a’course, it would be really interestin’ tuh have tha’ election go to the house. livin’ in historic times is mighty entertainin’.

  11. When words fail, elections stolen, citizens browbeaten by bureaucracy, economically crushed for refusing to bake a cake, told you didn’t build your business, you can keep your doctor, vote to see what’s in a bill, journalist pander and promote democrats. Finally pay to play with citizens money and sell their resources.

    At the crossroad of liberty and return to good governance, stands a citizen with a rifle.

    November 9th

    • Let’s hope it plays out so the rifles aren’t needed…

      We aren’t a third-world shithole. (Some in) our intelligence agencies are fighting the fight so that doesn’t have to happen. Hacked emails regarding Billary’s trips to ‘pedo island’ aboard Epstein’s “Lolita express”, the fact that Donna Brazile gave Hillary the debate questions prior to, how they planned how to crush Bernie, you name it, the Russkies aren’t the source – patriots in the alphabet agencies are.

  12. Excellent post. But here we go again, postulating that rational thought can penetrate progressive/statist minds. We may be able to persuade a dozen here and there, but fact is the divide is fossilized; little chance of ever gaining an overwhelming majority of pro-gun voters. There is an old rubric that “ignorance” is the state of being uninformed, while “stupid” is having information and refusing to act on it. Not sure how to describe the mind that doesn’t even want the information available.

  13. It’s fun to thrash about with our standard comments about infringement, and idiots who want to do the infringing. In this case, however, I actually followed the link and read the entire article (really long read); it is excellently excellent. Recommend taking the time to gain further insight into the thinking of the founders.

    Maybe this time I will avoid being “last to know”.

Comments are closed.