Gun Rights

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"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." - The second amendment

"The people have the right to bear arms for their defense and security" - Article I section 4 of the Ohio Constitution

Libertarians fully support the rights of gun owners. In order to stop crime, we do not need more gun laws. Nor do we need to enforce the ones we have. Those laws are part of the reason we have so much crime. We should repeal existing gun laws. If the laws try to prevent people from owning guns, then only those who respect the law will obey them. Criminals will not. As Harry Browne so eloquently stated, "by definition, law-breakers don't obey laws." This leads to peaceful citizens being easy victims.

Republicans claim to be the party of gun owners, but they do not object to current gun laws leading to crime. George Bush wants to use the tax money you paid to buy people trigger locks. If people want to buy trigger locks, they should feel free to do so. But that is not something taxpayers should have to pay for.

We oppose all laws requiring guns to have trigger locks. What good does a trigger lock do to a woman about to get raped? None. We oppose laws requiring guns be locked up in houses. What good does it do someone if they are attacked in their own home and cannot get to their gun? None.

"Gun control? It's the best thing you can do for crooks and gangsters. I want you to have nothing. If I'm a bad guy, I'm always gonna have a gun. Safety locks? You pull the trigger with a lock on and I'll pull the trigger [without a safety lock]. We'll see who wins." (Mobster Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, interviewed by Howard Blum.) -- Vanity Fair, September 1999

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Quotes from our founding fathers:
"To preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them." - Richard Henry Lee, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republic (1787-1788)

"No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Draft Virginia Constitution, 1776

"A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves and include all men capable of bearing arms . . . To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms . . ." -- Richard Henry Lee, Additional Letters from the Federal Farmer 53 (1788)

"[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." --James Madison,The Federalist Papers, No. 46

"I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them." - George Mason, during Virginia's Convention to Ratify the Constitution (1788)

NOTE: Whenever gun grabbers like Sarah Brady try to prove that the second amendment does not protect an individual right, they never quote the founding fathers. They only quote activist Supreme Court justices.

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Some points to consider:
* Article I Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution clearly enumerates the powers of Congress. Nowhere does it say Congress can pass gun control laws.
* The right to keep and bear arms is further protected by the 4th, 5th, 9th, and 10th amendments.
* All other amendments in the Bill of Rights are individual rights, not government powers.
* The framers of the Constitution had just overthrown the British government with their own guns when they wrote the Constitution.
* Adolph Hiter, Pol Pot, Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse Tung all supported banning guns.

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Recommended reading:
Lott, John R. More Guns, Less Crime. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, 1998. (available from the University of Dayton Roesch Library.)

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