Never assume that simply having a gun makes you a marksman. You are no more armed because you are wearing a pistol than you are a musician because you own a guitar.
Jeff CooperRead
That is why our masters in Washington are so anxious to disarm us. They are not afraid of criminals. They are afraid of a populace which cannot be subdued by tyrants.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a fear of disarming the population to prevent tyranny, emphasizing the importance of a free and armed citizenry.
Jeff Cooper's quote highlights the notion that those in power are more afraid of a populace that can resist oppression than of criminals. It suggests that the disarmament of citizens is a strategy employed by tyrants to maintain control and suppress dissent, framing the right to bear arms as a critical defense against tyranny and an essential element of a free society.
Themes
TyrannyFreedomDisarmamentResistanceOppression
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate on gun control, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of the right to bear arms.
More from Jeff Cooper
All quotes →Similar quotes
Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace, The soul that knows it not, knows no release, From little things; Knows not the livid loneliness of fear Nor mountain heights where bitter joy can hear The sound of wings.
Amelia EarhartRead
But come here, Fear. / I am alive! / And you are so afraid / of dying.
Joy HarjoRead
COULD I PASS A WEEK IN THE INSANE WARD AT BLACKWELL'S ISLAND? I SAID I COULD AND I WOULD. AND I DID.
Nellie BlyRead
Let me announce, with all the strength at my command, that I am not a terrorist and I never was, expect perhaps in the beginning of my revolutionary career. And I am convinced that we cannot gain anything through those methods.
Bhagat SinghRead
Of whatever class or nation, however, all successful participants in the repetitive and unrelenting stress of aerial fighting came eventually to display its characteristic physiognomy: skeletal hands, sharpened noses, tight-drawn cheek bones, the bared teeth of a rictus smile and the fixed, narrowed gaze of men in a state of controlled fear.
John KeeganRead
The most dangerous kind of person... is one who is afraid of his own shadow.
Philip K. DickRead