His words were never to be taken a face value and were almost always in contrast to the actions of him and his party.
But he seemed to have changed his tune a bit by the nearly-immediate dispatch of Naval forces to Tripoli in 1801.
But either way, for the dealing with the modern-day pacifists who worship Jefferson, it's nice to throw his own hawkish words right back in their pimply, scowling, infantile-chanting, appeasement-pushing faces.
It's Not Just A Gun...
It's My "HOMELAND DEFENSE RIFLE"!!
LoL. I have not throughly researched his motivation wrt this episode which is so out of character for the J man. Unfortunately, I am sure once I do I will not be happy with what I find.