Right To Bear Arms Quotes
Although written by a science fiction writer, this is one of the best quotations arguing for widespread gun ownership.
She advocated armed self-defense for Blacks.
Thirty young black men and women carrying pistols, revolvers, and shotguns, appeared at the grand entrance of the California Capitol Building. The capital police stopped them and asked what they were going to do with their guns. Bobby Seal replied by asking the police officer what he was going to do with his gun. Seale and the Black Panthers then quoted the Second Amendment to the Constitution and insisted that they had a right to carry guns. Seale led his overtly armed followers inside while police and legislators looked on in horror. They were breaking no law. See the linked quote for Seale’s statement at Sacramento.
She lost by a wide margin. Her Democratic opponent was not for gun control and yet she campaigned heavily on it but it was no issue in Nevada at that time.
This is a very clear statement of a theory offered by some gun advocates. Opponents observe that if this were true, the parts of the country that had the highest gun ownership would have the lowest gun deaths and crime in general, but that is not true. Obversely, when some jurisdictions like Florida have made guns easier to obtain, the crime rate has not increased as some gun opponents would predict.
At that time, ideology was not a driving political force and individual politicians often were hard to classify. For example, Humphrey was at the far left—an ultra liberal. Yet he was a staunch advocate of the right to bear arms. 50 years later there were no liberals who did not want to restrict gun ownership, And at that time, many Republicans were advocates of gun control, an unheard of situation in the 21st century beginning.
President James Madison expressed a similar sentiment in his first inaugural address.
