Six quotations of possible interest:
1. "Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest." [size=10][Gandhi, Mahatma, 2 M. GANDHI, An Autobiography of the Story of My Experiments with the Truth (trans. M. Desai, 1927).][/size]
2. "The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subjected people to carry arms; history shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subjected people to carry arms have prepared their own fall." [size=10][Hitler, Adolph, From Edict of March 18, 1938.][/size]
3. "At the time of the adoption of the Bill of Rights, this country's statesmen were concerned with the need to protect citizens from government itself, and the passage of almost two centuries has not negated the validity of this concern. The fact that Article I, Section 8, clause 16 of the Constitution grants Congress the power to organize, arm and discipline the militia clearly indicates a quite different intention for the Second Amendment." [size=10][Buckley, Senator James L., Congressional Record, S6889 (daily edition, April 28, 1975).][/size]
4. "The right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against the tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible." [size=10][Humphrey, Senator and Vice President Hubert H., Quoted in David T. Hardy, The Second Amendment as a Restraint on State and Federal Firearms Restrictions, in Kates, ed., RESTRICTING HANDGUNS; THE LIBERAL SKEPTICS SPEAK OUT (1979).][/size]
5. "Foolish liberals who are trying to read the Second Amendment out of the Constitution by claiming it's not an individual right or that it's too much of a safety hazard don't see the danger of the big picture. They're courting disaster by encouraging others to use the same means to eliminate portions of the Constitution they don't like." [size=10][Dershowitz, Alan, quoted in Dan Gifford, The Conceptual Foundation of Anglo-American Jurisprudence in Religion and Reason, 62 TENN, L. Rev. 759 (1995).][/size]
6. "And if you want to feel the warm breath of freedom on your neck . . . if you want to touch the pulse of liberty that beat in our founding fathers, you may do so through the majesty of the Second Amendment. * * * The Second Amendment isn't about the National Guard or the police or any other government entity. It is about law-abiding, private U.S. citizens. Period." [size=10][Heston, Charleston, From Remarks for the 125th Annual National Rifle Association Members Banquet, April 20, 1996.][/size]