Favorite gun quotes (long)

alnitak · Post by **alnitak** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:20 pm

After seeing ScottT's thread, and the question on whether Steinbeck actually said those quotes attributed to him, and reading people's signature lines for a few years, I thought this might be a worthwhile thread.

Here are some gun quotes I've put together. I've tried to stay away from just political quotes, although I let some slip by if I thought they were particularly relevant to guns. I also did not (knowingly) include quotes from movie characters, as I figured that was a whole 'nother thread (there are just so many good ones, from John Wayne, to Clint Eastwood, to Han Solo, etc.).

The primary focus is on political, literary and historical figues, and their support for gun ownership. I've tried to keep standard adages and Anonymous quotes out, though there are a few (looking for help to identify some of the unkowns).

What others do I need to add to my library?

Gun Quotes

â€œWhat country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms." --Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787

â€œIf guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns. Only the police, secret police, the military, the hired servants of our rulers. Only the government -- and a few outlaws. I intend to be among the outlaws.â€

Rimfire McNutjob · Post by **Rimfire McNutjob** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 4:12 pm

A good bunch from Jeff Cooper in there. Nice ... love the older ones from the time of our nation's birth.

RIHMFIRE · Post by **RIHMFIRE** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:29 pm

GREAT POST.....
how am I gonna remember all that!

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 6:01 pm

This should be a sticky!!!

bsaride · Post by **bsaride** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 6:21 pm

Copied and pasted to Word - 9 pages.....

Thanks

GANJIRO · Post by **GANJIRO** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 6:34 pm

"I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself a question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?"

Harry Callahan

gundownunder · Post by **gundownunder** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 7:34 pm

A government that does not trust its people to be armed is a government not to be trusted - author unknown

Boreman · Post by **Boreman** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 7:54 pm

Great truths, quotes and comments. Thanks for posting !!!!!!

neil mitchell · Post by **neil mitchell** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:34 pm

Excellent post!

Neil

rjohns94 · Post by **rjohns94** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:06 pm

Excellent post

505stevec · Post by **505stevec** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:19 pm

Great Post!!! saved for future use and reference

claybob86 · Post by **claybob86** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:40 pm

Great stuff! Very inspiring, thanks for the post!

JReed · Post by **JReed** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 11:28 pm

Excelent post. That should be manditory reading for the elected morons.

alnitak · Post by **alnitak** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:04 am

Thanks all. I added some new ones (and deleted the unconfirmed Hitler quote), with more from the founding fathers, throughout the original post.

Let me know what others I need to add.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 9:34 am

Very good ones in there.

Johnny

Bullard4075 · Post by **Bullard4075** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:04 pm

Excellent post.

"If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck."

meanc · Post by **meanc** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:14 pm

This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I WILL...

My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. WE WILL HIT...

My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage as I will ever guard my legs, my arms, my eyes and my heart against damage. I will keep my rifle clean and ready. We will become part of each other. WE WILL...

Before God, I swear this creed. My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. WE ARE THE SAVIORS OF MY LIFE.

So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy, but peace!

USMC Rifle Creed

Bullard4075 · Post by **Bullard4075** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:23 pm

"There are things that gnaw at a man worst than dying".
Charlie in Broken Trail

4t5 · Post by **4t5** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:07 pm

"DYING AIN'T MUCH OF A LIVING"

JReed · Post by **JReed** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:11 pm

+1 to meanc
that always gives me goose bumps.

stretch · Post by **stretch** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:51 pm

Terrific post!

There are some real gems in there.

I'm sure it took awhile to put it together, and you
have my thanks and admiration.

May I add one attributable to Chairman Mao?

"Diplomacy ends at the barrel of a gun."

alnitak · Post by **alnitak** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:52 pm

Thanks all; made most of the additions you suggested. I'll save the movie quotes for another thread...too many good ones!

I've heard the tactics quote before...who said it? Weren't there a couple more like that from the same person?

Texican · Post by **Texican** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:12 pm

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. - Benjamin Franklin

Have we been told for so long that violence isn't the answer to everything that we now believe it's the answer to nothing? - Unknown

Some of my faves from Ayn Rand

The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. - Ayn Rand (1905 - 1982), Source: Dr. Floyd Ferris, in Atlas Shrugged, 1957

A government is the most dangerous threat to man's rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims. - Ayn Rand (1905 - 1982), Source: 1963

So long as men desire to live together, no man may initiate the use of physical force against others. . . . When a man attempts to deal with me by force, I answer him by force. It is only as retaliation that force may be used and only against the man who starts its use. No, I do not share his evil or sink to his concept of morality: I merely grant him his choice, destruction, the only destruction he had the right to choose: his own. - Ayn Rand (1905 - 1982)

(not gun related but good none the less)
It is said that [Robin Hood] fought against the looting rulers and returned the loot to those who had been robbed, but that is not the meaning of the legend which has survived. He is remembered, not as a champion of property, but as a champion of need, not as a defender of the robbed, but as a provider of the poor. He is held to be the first man who assumed a halo of virtue by practicing charity with wealth which he did not own, by giving away goods which he had not produced, by making others pay for the luxury of his pity. He is the man who became the symbol of the idea that need, not achievement, is the source of rights, that we don't have to produce, only to want, that the earned does not belong to us, but the unearned does. He became a justification for every mediocrity who, unable to make his own living, had demanded the power to dispose of the property of his betters, by proclaiming his willingness to devote his life to his inferiors at the price of robbing his superiors. - Ayn Rand (1905 - 1982), Source: (Atlas 534)

Absolutely right! I would underscore that Robin Hood didn't steal from the rich and give to the poor, he returned to the people what the government had no right to take

ohwin94_61 · Post by **ohwin94_61** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:59 pm

"This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I WILL...

My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. WE WILL HIT...

My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage as I will ever guard my legs, my arms, my eyes and my heart against damage. I will keep my rifle clean and ready. We will become part of each other. WE WILL...

Before God, I swear this creed. My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. WE ARE THE SAVIORS OF MY LIFE.

So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy, but peace!" -- USMC Rifle Creed

Semper Fi

alnitak · Post by **alnitak** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:21 am

Thanks Ohwin94. I added the rifle creed after Meanc suggested it.

No more quotes to add (can't believe I have them all)?