Patrick Henry

Come to find out, today is the anniversary of Patrick Henry's death. I'm familiar with his famous "Give me liberty or give me death!" quote, but I'm a little surprised to learn how little I know about this American Hero. For instance, I always thought that this quote was given at his execution. Looks like I was seriously mistaken. A little light reading here straightened me out, along with providing a very nice recording of a re-enactment of Mr. Henry's speech. That was very cool - and no wonder I've never seen it before, in spite of studying a good number of "documents" in my AP US History class. It's completely anti-gun-control. And his arguments against the British removing the people's guns are just as good when applied to why the current US government should not be allowed to take away our guns.

I can't seem to find a way to make a "permalink," so I'll repost this, which I recently saw on the Badger Blog Alliance:

A FIREARMS REFRESHER COURSE

1. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.

2. A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.

3 Colt: The original point and click interface.

4. Gun control is not about guns; it's about control.

5. If guns are outlawed, can we use swords?

6. If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words.

7. "Free" men do not ask permission to bear arms.

8. If you don't know your rights you don't have any.

9. Those who trade liberty for security have neither.

10. The United States Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights reserved.

11. What part of "shall not be infringed" do you not understand?

12. The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.

13. 64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.

14. Guns only have two enemies: rust and politicians.

15. Know guns, know peace, know safety. No guns, no peace, no safety.

16. You don't shoot to kill; you shoot to stay alive.

17. 911 - government sponsored Dial-a-Prayer.

18. Assault is a behavior, not a device.

19. Criminals love gun control -- it makes their jobs safer.

20. If guns cause crime, then matches cause arson.

21. Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control them.

22. You only have the rights you are willing to fight for.

23. Enforce the "gun control laws" we ALREADY have, don't make more.

24. When you remove the people's right to bear arms, you create slaves.

25. The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.

26. "A government of the people, by the people, for the people..."

It's a bit rough around the edges compared to his speech, but I think Mr. Henry would have approved.