Liberals, Europeans, Americans, Asians: What do you think about these historical Quotes?

[Carlos Bagram]

"Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.?-Winston Churchill
“You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.”- Isoroku Yamamoto (Fleet Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy)
Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest. – Mahatma Gandhi
"No Free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Thomas Jefferson
“The people of the various provinces are strictly forbidden to have in their possession any swords, bows, spears, firearms or other types of arms. The possession of these elements makes difficult the collection of taxes and dues, and tends to permit uprising.” – Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japanese Shogun, August 29, 1558
"...to disarm the people - that was the best and most effectual way to enslave them."- George Mason
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of 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 bands of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States" - Noah Webster
"We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans to legitimately own handguns and rifles...that we are unable to think about reality." Bill Clinton
"Those now possessing weapons and ammunition are at once to turn them over to the local police authority. Firearms and ammunition found in a Jew's possession will be forfeited to the government without compensation Whoever willfully or negligently violates the provisions will be punished with imprisonment and a fine.”- Nazi Law
"Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence ... From the hour the Pilgrims landed, to the present day, events, occurrences, and tendencies prove that to insure peace, security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable . . . The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that is good" -George Washington
@Kirk- That is completely incorrect since the link you provided mentions total crime, our population is much larger than any European Country (5 times UK). What you have to look at is Crime rate per Capita, ours is much lower than 90% of all European countries.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...a-U-S.html

[Kirk]

Many of these statements were true when made, but the modern world has made guns less desirable. Countries that don't allow everyone to have guns have a significantly lower crime rate than the United States and other countries that allow anyone to have guns. I don't think many would argue that guns help us retain our democracy, they just lead to more crime. They also aren't necessary for defence as we have non-lethal devices, like pepper spray and TASERs. By the way, I believe in the constitution and believe the Supreme Court made the correct decision according to the Constitution, but an amendment should cancel the 2nd one.

[Pie, Mash & Liquor]

I think some are excellent (Churchill for example), some are so old (100 years +) as to be questionable in their relevance to modern society, some are out of context for example Ghandi, some are half a quote (the 1938 Nazi gun laws actually made it easier for most Germans to own a gun, though your point about disarming a minority is taken) and some are just false. I've tried hard to find a credible source for that Yamamoto 'quote' and can't find one, all I can find is blogs, twitter messages, and pro gun websites. Not a single credible academic source seems to exist.

Some are also accurate quotes, but that doesn't mean they are factually accurate. Noah Webster's quote for example states that people in almost all European nations were 'disarmed'. This simply isn't true. If you can find any laws restricting gun ownership in Europe at that time, I'll be extremely surprised.

Oh and George Mason also said ".....once a standing army is established, in any country, the people lose their liberty" Is that true as well ?

Your point on per capita crime is of course valid and perhaps the link previously supplied wasn't the greatest, so here's one with murder example 100,000 population (per capita)

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mu...000-people

This shows the US has a murder rate of 5 per 100,000 almost 4 times the EU rate.

One cannot argue that the European crime rate is anything but far too high, but if you dig into the stats in the UK for example you see that most of the reported crimes are thefts of or from motor vehicles, disgraceful of course, but not a crime I can see being solved by, or indeed relevant to, the question of gun ownership.

Indeed I have seen it argued, that such crimes are simply reported more often in the UK than in the US because in the UK people are more likely to be insured against such crimes than in the US and need to report it to get an insurance claim.

You also have to take into account what constitutes a 'crime', as the article you link to states, In Britain, an affray is considered a violent crime, while in other countries it will only be logged if a person is physically injured. Finally, remember that that the link you have is to an article written nearly 3 years ago in a very Conservative biased paper whilst the Labour party were in power.