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Amendments Quote by Don Kates

“The Second Amendment's language and historical and philosophical background demonstrated…” quote by Don Kates — Download Open image

“The Second Amendment's language and historical and philosophical background demonstrated that it was designed to guarantee individuals the possession of certain kinds of arms for three purposes: (1) crime prevention or what we would today describe as self-defense; (2) national defense; and (3) preservation of individual liberty...”

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More by Don Kates

A half century ago Herbert Wechsler could justify the legal right of deadly force self-defense in terms of the "universal judgment that there is…

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A handgun ban is not realistically enforceable. Confiscating guns would require house-to-house searches and alienate the very individuals whose compliance is essential to the…

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Ironically, the only gun control in 19th century England was the policy forbidding police to have arms while on duty.

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Children younger than 5 are twice as likely to die from ingesting household poisons than by gunfire - So the question for the Legislature…

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The 'militia' was the entire adult male citizenry, who were not simply allowed to keep their own arms, but affirmatively required to do so.

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...Virtually never are murderers the ordinary, law-abiding people against whom gun bans are aimed. Almost without exception, murderers are extreme aberrants with lifelong histories…

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Explore all 7 Don Kates quotes

More Amendments quotes

This separation was absolute in our original Republic. But the sky-godders do not give up easily. In the 1950s they actually got the phrase…

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The First Amendment makes confidence in the common sense of our people and in the maturity of their judgement the great postulate of our…

William O. Douglas

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Anybody who pretends that how you read the 10th and 11th Amendment doesn't have a fundamental impact on the things we care about is…

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I have a lot of guns on my ranch. I don't use them for hunting. I'm not a hunter. It's for protection. The Second…

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All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we…

Benjamin Franklin

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If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected…

George Washington

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The First Amendment exists to protect our religious liberty--to ensure that all Americans are able to seek out worship God with all our hearts,…

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Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . .…

Thomas Jefferson

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As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize,... The people are confirmed by the next…

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The lessons of the First Amendment are as urgent in the modern world as the 18th Century when it was written. One timeless lesson…

Anthony Kennedy

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The American people intuitively understand this, which is why the majority of Catholics practice birth control and some of those opposed to gay marriage…

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I think the reality is that copyright law has for a very long time been a tiny little part of American jurisprudence, far removed…

Lawrence Lessig

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