“The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.”
But I believe this one to be correct and accurate:
"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."
-- Thomas Jefferson
Quotes from the Founding Fathers and Their Contemporaries
Probably not. I spent a bit of time trying to run that one down in two different multi-volume collections of Jefferson's works. Sometimes a referance is given for it, but it appears to be a scrambled version of one of those works.
Here's one example:
Thomas Jefferson, (The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, p. 334, 1950)
It's not there.
It's often combined with ""No man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." Which Jefferson did write as part of proposed Constituition for Virginia. It was followed by "within his own lands or tenements)", the () indicating he thought that might be optional or left out, the proposal did not pass, although I think a stronger version did.
Jefferson did write: "The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that . . . it is their right and duty to be at all times armed." Letter to John Cartwright, 1824. (The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Memorial Edition (ME), Lipscomb and Bergh, editors, 20 Vols., Washington, D.C., 1903-04, 16:45.
And
"One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them." -- Letter to George Washington, 1796. ME 9:341
A good source of Jefferson quotes on a number of subject is at the site of the school he founded, The University of Virginia
In particular On Militia and Military matters and The Right to (Keep and) Bear Arms