Related:

• Francesco Sforza became Duke of Milan from being a private citizen because he was armed
  his successors, since they avoided the inconveniences of arms, became private citizens after having been dukes....
• The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens.
  -- Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)...
• The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens.
  -- Alexis de Tocqueville...
• There is] a duty in refusing to cooperate in any undertaking that violates the Constitutional rights of the individual.
  This holds in particular for all inquisitions that are concerned with the private life and the political affiliations of the citizens....
• 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 During Mass' Constitution ratification Convention, 1788...
• As the Founding Fathers knew well, a government that does not trust its honest, law-abiding, taxpaying citizens with the means of self-defense is not itself worthy of trust.
  Laws disarming honest citizens proclaim that the government is the master, not the servant, of the people....
• Are we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense?
  Where is the difference between having our arms in our own possession and under our own direction, and having them under the management of Congress?...
• If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace.
  We ask not your councels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you....
• Philosophy is nothing but discretion. -- John Selden (1584-1654) -- Philosophy