When an organized fighting force was needed, each colony had its own militia made up of part-time citizen-soldiers that were called to action and disbanded as needed, and this militia was usually supported by private citizens carrying their own weapons. Men were generally required to own at least one firearm for this purpose and to have a firearm on their person at all times in some places this included a mandate that guns be brought everywhere, including to church. Each colony relied on an armed citizenry to defend against aggression from Native Americans and the French. Guns were everywhere in colonial America. Fully understanding the framers’ intent regarding the second amendment is the key to dissecting and discussing the issue of guns in American society. So any claim that “the founding fathers” would have all collectively felt one way or another about one of today’s political issues is probably not true at the very least, this type of claim is not provable.īut it is absolutely true that the founding fathers - and more specifically the intent of the men involved in the creation of the Bill of Rights - are at the core of the issue of guns in this country. To invoke “the founding fathers” at all is to invoke men whose words have been amended and reinterpreted many times in order to fit the evolution of American society. Twitter did not exist in the 18th century. We have record of the speeches and writings by some founding fathers but not others. The founding fathers were also a group of men who disagreed with one another on pretty much every conceivable topic claiming that “the founding fathers” felt a singular way about a specific idea is like claiming “all sports fans” unanimously consider Peyton Manning the all-time best Quarterback.Īlso: The record of what the founding fathers said and believed is incomplete. These early American statesmen disagreed with each other quite a bit. In the first chapter of his book Guns, Crime & Freedom, Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president and public face of the National Rifle Association, argued that several important figures in early American history believed that the population should be armed in the manner that the NRA currently endorses. They are widespread and they’ve found their way to the top of the pro-gun mainstream. John Adams, who was famously suspicious of unrest among common people, would never have declared “arms in the hands of the citizens may be used at individual discretion for the defense of the country, the overthrow of tyranny or private self defense,” and Alexander Hamilton could never have said “the best we can help for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed” in the 184th Federalist Paper, as is claimed on a prominent pro-gun website, because there were only 85 Federalist Papers.įake quotes like these are abundant and they’re not confined to fringe message boards or bumper stickers. Jefferson also did not say “the beauty of the second amendment is that it will not be needed until someone tries to take it ” this quote seems to be from a fictional Jefferson in an independently-published novel called On A Hill They Call Capital (sic.) Thomas Jefferson never wrote “the strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government ” these words were first printed by the Orlando Sentinel in the late 1980s. George Washington is hardly the only founding father being falsely quoted like this a Google search is all it takes to discover that the majority of pro-gun quotes commonly attributed to the founding fathers are fakes, or are taken out of context. The likely source of that quote is an article from a 1926 issue of a magazine called Hunter-Trapper-Trade r. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence … from the hour the Pilgrims landed to the present day, events, occurences and tendencies prove that to ensure peace security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable … the very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.Īs stirring as that quote is to some people, George Washington never wrote or said that, nor did he say anything to that effect. There’s a quote floating around the internet, attributed to George Washington in his first State of the Union Address, which saysįirearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself.
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