"That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the
 symbol of democracy.  It is our job to see that it stays there."
 - George Orwell

"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon
 the Act depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest." - Mahatma Gandhi

"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'll pull the trigger with a lock on, and I'll pull the
 trigger.  We'll see who wins." - Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, Mafia hit man

"If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to
 shoot back with your own gun."
 - Dalai Lama, (May 15, 2001, The Seattle Times) speaking at the
   "Educating Heart Summit" in Portland, Oregon,
   when asked by a girl how to react when a shooter takes aim at a classmate

"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

"Where the choice is between only violence and cowardice,
 I would advise violence." - Mahatma Gandhi

"Laws 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

"Certainly, the intrinsic value of life and the duty to love oneself no
 less than others are the basis of a true right to self-defense...
 legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone
 responsible for another's life, the common good of the family or of the State.
 Unfortunately, it happens that the need to render the aggressor incapable of
 causing harm sometimes involves taking his life." - Pope John Paul II

"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity."
 - Sigmund Freud

"Even though most people do not carry guns, the mere possibility that an
 intended victim could be armed with a handgun eliminates millions of
 crimes every year." - Robert H. Boatman

"The rights of ordinary people thrive at those times when
 common citizens are well armed against the incursions of their own
 government—liberty declines precipitously when arms are denied the commonality."
 - Carroll Quigley, _Tragedy and Hope_

"Weapons compound man’s power to achieve; they amplify the capabilities
 of both the good man and the bad, and to exactly the same degree, having
 no will of their own.  Thus we must regard them as servants, not
 masters—and good servants to good men.  Without them, man is diminished,
 and his opportunities to fulfill his destiny are lessened.
 An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome
 by fleeing from it." - Col. Jeff Cooper

"A pistol defends your property and your person from unanticipated
 and barely anticipated threats from thieves and robbers.  With it,
 you can control your immediate environment. A rifle defends your
 freedom from oppressors and tyrants. With it, you can enforce your will."
 - Gabe Suarez

"Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance;
 they are the peoples' liberty's teeth." - George Washington

"An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may
 have to back up his acts with his life." - Robert A. Heinlein