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Ronald Reagan -- The Gun Owners Champion
The Patriot Post ^ | Sept 1975, Guns and Ammo | Ronald Reagan

Posted on 08/05/2019 9:26:57 AM PDT by walkingdead

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Excellent read from a man who truly understood.
1 posted on 08/05/2019 9:26:57 AM PDT by walkingdead
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To: walkingdead

it waqsn’t just him- my next post I’ll list our foundign fathers comments o nthe issue which were absolutely pro guns


2 posted on 08/05/2019 9:37:18 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: walkingdead

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulford_Act

The Mulford Act was a 1967 California bill that repealed a law allowing public carrying of loaded firearms.{SNIP}

AB-1591 was authored by Don Mulford (R) from Oakland, John T. Knox (D) from Richmond, Walter J. Karabian (D) from Monterey Park, Alan Sieroty (D) from Los Angeles, and William M. Ketchum (R) from Bakersfield,[5] it passed both Assembly (controlled by Democrats 42:38) and Senate (split 20:20) and was signed by Governor Ronald Reagan on July 28. The law banned the carrying of loaded weapons in public. [6]

Both Republicans and Democrats in California supported increased gun control. Governor Ronald Reagan, who was coincidentally present on the capitol lawn when the protesters arrived, later commented that he saw “no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons” and that guns were a “ridiculous way to solve problems that have to be solved among people of good will.” In a later press conference, Reagan added that the Mulford Act “would work no hardship on the honest citizen.”[7]

The bill was signed by Reagan and became California penal code 25850 and 171c.


3 posted on 08/05/2019 9:38:04 AM PDT by RedStateRocker (We had entirely enough government in 1789.)
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To: walkingdead

folks have likely seen this a few times- but if not- there are some excellent quotes here:

“A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined...”
- George Washington, First Annual Address, to both House of Congress, January 8, 1790

“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”
- Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776

“I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.”
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, January 30, 1787

“What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms.”
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, December 20, 1787

“The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They 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, Commonplace Book (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria), 1774-1776

“A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks.” - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, August 19, 1785

“The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.”
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to to John Cartwright, 5 June 1824

“On every occasion [of Constitutional interpretation] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying [to force] what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, [instead let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed.”
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, 12 June 1823

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

“To disarm the people...[i]s the most effectual way to enslave them.”
- George Mason, referencing advice given to the British Parliament by Pennsylvania governor Sir William Keith, The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adooption of the Federal Constitution, June 14, 1788

“I ask who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers.”
- George Mason, Address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 4, 1788

“Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops.”
- Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, October 10, 1787

“Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of.”
- James Madison, Federalist No. 46, January 29, 1788

“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country.”
- James Madison, I Annals of Congress 434, June 8, 1789

“A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves…and include, according to the past and general usuage of the states, all men capable of bearing arms… “To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.”
- Richard Henry Lee, Federal Farmer No. 18, January 25, 1788

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined.... The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun.”
- Patrick Henry, Speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 5, 1778

“This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty.... The right of self defense is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.”
- St. George Tucker, Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England, 1803

” The balance ofpower is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside. And while a single nation refuses to lay them down, it is proper that all should keep them up. Horrid mischief would ensue were one-half the world deprived of the use of them; for while avarice and ambition have a place in the heart of man, the weak will become a prey to the strong. The history of every age and nation establishes these truths, and facts need but little arguments when they prove themselves.”
- Thomas Paine, “Thoughts on Defensive War” in Pennsylvania Magazine, July 1775

“The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.”
- Samuel Adams, Massachusetts Ratifying Convention, 1788

“The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them.”
- Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, 1833

“What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty .... Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins.”
- Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, I Annals of Congress 750, August 17, 1789

“For it is a truth, which the experience of ages has attested, that the people are always most in danger when the means of injuring their rights are in the possession of those of whom they entertain the least suspicion.”
- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 25, December 21, 1787

“If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no resource left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government, and which against the usurpations of the national rulers, may be exerted with infinitely better prospect of success than against those of the rulers of an individual state. In a single state, if the persons intrusted with supreme power become usurpers, the different parcels, subdivisions, or districts of which it consists, having no distinct government in each, can take no regular measures for defense. The citizens must rush tumultuously to arms, without concert, without system, without resource; except in their courage and despair.”
- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 28
“A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined...”
- George Washington, First Annual Address, to both House of Congress, January 8, 1790

“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”
- Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776

“I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.”
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, January 30, 1787

“What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms.”
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, December 20, 1787

“The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They 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, Commonplace Book (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria), 1774-1776

“A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks.” - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, August 19, 1785

“The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed.”
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to to John Cartwright, 5 June 1824

“On every occasion [of Constitutional interpretation] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying [to force] what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, [instead let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed.”
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, 12 June 1823

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

“To disarm the people...[i]s the most effectual way to enslave them.”
- George Mason, referencing advice given to the British Parliament by Pennsylvania governor Sir William Keith, The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adooption of the Federal Constitution, June 14, 1788

“I ask who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers.”
- George Mason, Address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 4, 1788

“Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops.”
- Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, October 10, 1787

“Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of.”
- James Madison, Federalist No. 46, January 29, 1788

“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country.”
- James Madison, I Annals of Congress 434, June 8, 1789

“A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves…and include, according to the past and general usuage of the states, all men capable of bearing arms… “To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.”
- Richard Henry Lee, Federal Farmer No. 18, January 25, 1788

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined.... The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun.”
- Patrick Henry, Speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 5, 1778

“This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty.... The right of self defense is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.”
- St. George Tucker, Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England, 1803

” The balance ofpower is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside. And while a single nation refuses to lay them down, it is proper that all should keep them up. Horrid mischief would ensue were one-half the world deprived of the use of them; for while avarice and ambition have a place in the heart of man, the weak will become a prey to the strong. The history of every age and nation establishes these truths, and facts need but little arguments when they prove themselves.”
- Thomas Paine, “Thoughts on Defensive War” in Pennsylvania Magazine, July 1775

“The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.”
- Samuel Adams, Massachusetts Ratifying Convention, 1788

“The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them.”
- Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, 1833

“What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty .... Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins.”
- Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, I Annals of Congress 750, August 17, 1789

“For it is a truth, which the experience of ages has attested, that the people are always most in danger when the means of injuring their rights are in the possession of those of whom they entertain the least suspicion.”
- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 25, December 21, 1787

“If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no resource left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government, and which against the usurpations of the national rulers, may be exerted with infinitely better prospect of success than against those of the rulers of an individual state. In a single state, if the persons intrusted with supreme power become usurpers, the different parcels, subdivisions, or districts of which it consists, having no distinct government in each, can take no regular measures for defense. The citizens must rush tumultuously to arms, without concert, without system, without resource; except in their courage and despair.”
- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 28

https://www.buckeyefirearms.org/gun-quotations-founding-fathers
https://www.buckeyefirearms.org/gun-quotations-founding-fathers


4 posted on 08/05/2019 9:38:52 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: RedStateRocker

Thank you for posting that. Ronnie did a lot of good things. The Mulford Act was NOT one of them.


5 posted on 08/05/2019 9:50:54 AM PDT by RKV (He who has the guns makes the rules)
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To: walkingdead
Ronald Reagan -- The Gun Owner's Champion

Who brought you the Firearm Owner's Protection Act which permanently closed the machine gun registry.

6 posted on 08/05/2019 9:53:36 AM PDT by Yo-Yo ( is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: walkingdead
We may not have a well-regulated militia, but it does not necessarily follow that we should not be prepared to have one.

I don't like his argument about the militia. First of all, the statement about the militia is a preamble (to the Amendment) not unlike the preamble to the Constitution itself which has been held to convey no law. Second, if it were relevant he tries to interpret it with a modern usage of the word militia. Back when the Amendment was written, it just meant the population of able bodied males. It was not anything organized by government, which would have be contrary to the purpose of the Amendment which was to protect the people FROM government.

ML/NJ

7 posted on 08/05/2019 9:53:40 AM PDT by ml/nj
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To: Bob434
I didn't see this one on the list:

Oppressors can tyrannize only when they achieve a standing army, an enslaved press, and a disarmed populace. ~ James Madison

I figure we're at 2 away, working on a full count to the current hitter.

8 posted on 08/05/2019 9:57:44 AM PDT by gundog ( Hail to the Chief, bitches!)
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To: walkingdead

Regan enacted 922(o).


9 posted on 08/05/2019 10:01:50 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (The Red Queen wasn't kidding.)
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To: gundog

I’m sure the list isn’t complete- but it’s a great list nonetheless- it shows unequivocally that the whole purpose for owning guns is self protection against all enemies- domestic and foreign- long background checks and red flag laws violate that inalienable right-


10 posted on 08/05/2019 10:08:04 AM PDT by Bob434
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To: walkingdead

Ronald Reagan INFRINGED OUR RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS. He was little better than a Demonrat in that regard. Just to cite the most egregious infringement: he signed a ban on the sale and possession of machine guns made after 1986. This ensures that the citizenry can NEVER have parity with the government in light arms.


11 posted on 08/05/2019 10:13:52 AM PDT by backwoods-engineer (Enjoy the decline of the American empire.)
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To: RedStateRocker
guns were a “ridiculous way to solve problems that have to be solved among people of good will.”

People of good will use guns to solve problems caused by people of BAD will. And that is why citizens should be carrying loaded weapons as they go about their daily business.

12 posted on 08/05/2019 10:17:11 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the peopIe to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: Donald J Trump

Number 12 is for you, Donald.


13 posted on 08/05/2019 10:18:13 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the peopIe to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: Yo-Yo

That and he bequeathed to us the Bush who gave us gun free school zones.


14 posted on 08/05/2019 10:21:48 AM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: Bonemaker
gun free school zones.

Gun free zones only work if security is sufficient to actually make them 100% gun free. Otherwise the cowardly perp likes the idea of shooting fish in a barrel.

15 posted on 08/05/2019 10:24:49 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: Yo-Yo; walkingdead

“Who brought you the Firearm Owner’s Protection Act which permanently closed the machine gun registry.”


Exactly. The rest of the FOPA was fine, and LONG overdue, but this particular clause is utterly unconstitutional...and the favorite President of my lifetime (at least up until Trump...and he needs another 5 1/2 years for a fair comparison) signed it. VERY disappointing, to say the least.

On the topic of Section 922(o) and closing the registry...I find it interesting that one of the claims that the government made in the 1939 “U.S. v. Miller” case was that the $200 NFA tax on full autos was NOT a ban, only a tax. On that basis (among others) the SC let the government prevail. Now comes along Section 922(o) and the government makes it LEGALLY IMPOSSIBLE to pay said tax. It seems to me that the government can close the registry if they want...but only if the very concept of the registry goes away. The government cannot eat its cake and have it, too. Either the registry is open and they can collect their tax, or there’s no registry. Someone ought to be able to make a case on these facts rather easily...and it doesn’t require that any civilian actually buy a full auto and attempt to register it - the mere attempt to do, combined with the legal impossibility of being allowed to complete the transaction, should be enough for a “case or controversy” to be heard by the correct District Court in the correct Circuit. Of course, it’d be nice if Ruth Buzzi was no longer on the SC, and replaced with a dyed-in-the-wool Constitutionalist, before that case was brought, but nonetheless we have a good case here.


16 posted on 08/05/2019 10:24:50 AM PDT by Ancesthntr ("The right to buy weapons is the right to be free." A. E. van Vogt, The Weapons Shops of Isher)
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To: RKV

“Thank you for posting that. Ronnie did a lot of good things. The Mulford Act was NOT one of them.”

Agreed.


17 posted on 08/05/2019 10:25:19 AM PDT by walkingdead (By the time you realize this is not worth reading, it will be too late....)
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To: backwoods-engineer

“This ensures that the citizenry can NEVER have parity with the government in light arms.”


Well, maybe not at the beginning of a conflict....


18 posted on 08/05/2019 10:26:44 AM PDT by Ancesthntr ("The right to buy weapons is the right to be free." A. E. van Vogt, The Weapons Shops of Isher)
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To: NorthMountain

“People of good will use guns to solve problems caused by people of BAD will. “

Amen


19 posted on 08/05/2019 10:26:50 AM PDT by RedStateRocker (We had entirely enough government in 1789.)
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To: All

I agree with all of you on the machine gun registry. But this article, penned in 1975, is one of the better I have read (maybe minus the militia part which everyone seems to get hung up on).


20 posted on 08/05/2019 10:30:50 AM PDT by walkingdead (By the time you realize this is not worth reading, it will be too late....)
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