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MODERN
LEADERS' THOUGHTS ON GUN CONTROL: Mohandas
K. Gandhi: "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. If we want the Arms Act to be repealed, if we want to
learn the use of arms, here is a golden opportunity. If the middle
classes render voluntary help to Government in the hour of its trial,
distrust will disappear, and the ban on possessing arms will be
withdrawn." Mohandas K. Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My
Experiments with Truth, Chapter XXVII, Recruiting Campaign, Page 403,
Dover paperback edition, 1983.
Sigmund Freud: "A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and
emotional maturity." ("General Introduction to Psychoanalysis," S. Freud)
Bill Clinton: (US President, has sworn an oath to defend the US Constitution,
(not to violate it, criticize it, and belittle it)) "When we got organized as a
country, [and] wrote a fairly radical Constitution, with a radical Bill of Rights, giving
radical amounts of freedom to Americans, it was assumed that Americans who had that
freedom would use it responsibly...When personal freedom is being abused, you have to move
to limit it." (April 19 1994, on MTV)
Admiral Yamamoto: "You cannot invade mainland United States. There would be
a rifle behind each blade of grass." Advising Japan's military leaders of the
futility of an invasion of the mainland United States because of the widespread
availability of guns. It has been theorized that this was a major contributing factor in
Japan's decision not to land on North America early in the war when they had vastly
superior military strength. This delay gave our industrial infrastructure time to gear up
for the conflict and was decisive in our later victory.
Benito Mussolini: “The measures adopted to restore public
order are: First of all, the elimination of the so-called subversive
elements. ... They were elements of disorder and subversion. On the
morrow of each conflict I gave the categorical order to confiscate the
largest possible number of weapons of every sort and kind. This
confiscation, which continues with the utmost energy, has given
satisfactory results.” (address to the Italian Senate, 1931)
Charles Shumer: (US Congress, has sworn an oath to defend the US Constitution)
"All we ask for is registration, just like we do for cars." (Press conference,
1993, exact date being sought)
Adolf Hitler: "The most foolish mistake we could
possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms.
History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races
to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. Indeed, I
would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine
qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty. So let's not have any
native militia or native police. German troops alone will bear the sole
responsibility for the maintenance of law and order throughout the
occupied Russian territories, and a system of military strong-points
must be evolved to cover the entire occupied country." Adolf
Hitler, dinner talk on April 11, 1942, quoted in Hitler's Table Talk
1941-44: His Private Conversations, Second Edition (1973), Pg. 425-426.
Translated by Norman Cameron and R. H. Stevens.
Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy
Center: "A gun-control movement worthy of the name would insist
that President Clinton move beyond his proposals for controls . . .
and immediately call on Congress to pass far-reaching industry
regulation like the Firearms Safety and Consumer Protection Act . . .
[which] would give the Treasury Department health and safety authority
over the gun industry, and any rational regulator with that authority
would ban handguns." "Dispense With the Half Steps and Ban Killing
Machines," Houston Chronicle, Nov. 5, 1999
Mao Tse Tung: "All political power comes from the barrel of a gun. The
communist party must command all the guns, that way, no guns can ever be used to command
the party." (Problems of War and Strategy, Nov 6 1938, published in "Selected
Works of Mao Zedong," 1965)
Diane Feinstein: "US Senator, If I could have banned them
all - 'Mr. and
Mrs. America turn in your guns' - I would have!" (Statement on TV program 60 Minutes,
Feb 5 1995)
Deborah Prothrow-Stith: "My view of guns is simple. I hate
guns and I cannot imagine why anyone would want to own one. If I had
my way, guns for sport would be registered, and all other guns would
be banned." (Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Dean of Harvard School of Public
Health)
Jill Fieldstein, CBS producer, Street Stories: Women and Guns: "As a
card-carrying member of the liberal media, producing this piece was an eye opening
experience. I have to admit that I saw guns as inherently evil, violence begets violence,
and so on. I have learned, however, that in trained hands, just the presence of a gun can
be a real "man stopper." I am sorry that women have had to resort to this, but
wishing it wasn't so won't make it any safer out there. 29 April 1993.
And from one of your favorite gun-grabbing gods, Dr. Arthur Kellerman, stated:
"If you've got to resist, you're chances of being hurt are less the more lethal your
weapon. If that were my wife, would I want her to have a .38 Special in her hand?
Yeah." (Health Magazine, March/April 1994)
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch: "In my studies as an attorney and as a United States
Senator, I have constantly been amazed by the indifference or even hostility shown the
Second Amendment by courts, legislatures, and commentators. James Madison would be
startled to hear that his recognition of a right to keep and bear arms, which passed the
House by a voice vote without objection and hardly a debate, has since been construed in
but a single, and most ambiguous Supreme Court decision, whereas his proposals for freedom
of religion, which he made reluctantly out of fear that they would be rejected or narrowed
beyond use, and those for freedom of assembly, which passed only after a lengthy and
bitter debate, are the subject of scores of detailed and favorable decisions. Thomas
Jefferson, who kept a veritable armory of pistols, rifles and shotguns at Monticello, and
advised his nephew to forsake other sports in favor of hunting, would be astounded to hear
supposed civil libertarians claim firearm ownership should be restricted. Samuel Adams, a
handgun owner who pressed for an amendment stating that the "Constitution shall never
be construed . . . to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens
from keeping their own arms," would be shocked to hear that his native state today
imposes a year's sentence, without probation or parole, for carrying a firearm without a
police permit."
Senator Orrin Hatch: "If gun laws in fact worked, the sponsors
of this type of legislation should have no difficulty drawing upon long lists
of examples of crime rates reduced by such legislation. That they cannot do so
after a century and a half of trying--that they must sweep under the rug the
southern attempts at gun control in the 1870-1910 period, the northeastern
attempts in the 1920-1939 period, the attempts at both Federal and State
levels in 1965-1976--establishes the repeated, complete and inevitable failure
of gun laws to control serious crime." Senator Orrin Hatch, Chairman,
Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution, 97th Cong., 2d
Sess., The Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Committee Print I-IX, 1-23 (1982).
Sen. Hubert Humphrey: "Certainly
one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how
popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. This is
not to say that firearms should not be very carefully used, and that definite
safety rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of
citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government,
and one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America,
but which historically has proved to be always possible." Sen. Hubert
Humphrey, Know Your Lawmakers, Guns
Magazine, Page 4, Feb. 1960.
John F. Kennedy: "Today, we need a nation of
Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who
regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and
who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom."
George Orwell: "That rifle on the wall of
the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is
our job to see that it stays there."
The Dalai Lama: "If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you,
it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun." (May 15, 2001, The
Seattle Times)
Laurence H. Tribe of the Harvard Law School: "The federal
government may not disarm individual citizens without some unusually strong
justification." (2000 edition of American Constitutional Law)
Attorney General John Ashcroft: "Just as the First and Fourth
Amendment secure individual rights of speech and security respectively, the
Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. This
view of the text comports with the all but unanimous understanding of the
Founding Fathers."
John F. Kennedy: "By calling attention to 'a well
regulated militia,' 'the security of the nation,' and the right of each citizen
'to keep and bear arms,' our founding fathers recognized the essentially
civilian nature of our economy... The Second Amendment still remains an
important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships in which
every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For
that reason I believe the Second Amendment will always be important." John
F. Kennedy, Junior Senator of MA in a 1959 letter to E.B. Mann [From the 1974
Gun Digest, article titled Gun Laws]
Sanford Levinson on The Second Amendment as an Individual
Right: "The structure of the Second Amendment within the Bill of Rights
proves that the right to bear arms is an individual right, rather than a
collective one. The collective rights' idea that the Second Amendment can only
be viewed in terms of state or federal power "ignores the implication that
might be drawn from the Second, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments: the citizenry
itself can be viewed as an important third component of republican governance as
far as it stands ready to defend republican liberty against the depredations of
the other two structures, however futile that might appear as a practical
matter." Sanford Levinson, The Embarrassing Second Amendment, 99
YALE L.J. 637, 651 (1989).
Israeli Police Inspector General Shlomo Aharonisky: “There's
no question that weapons in the hands of the public have prevented acts of
terror or stopped them.”
President Theodore Roosevelt: "The great
body of our citizens shoot less as times goes on. We should encourage
rifle practice among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes, as well
as in the military services by every means in our power. Thus, and not
otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving peace in the
world... The first step – in the direction of preparation to avert war
if possible, and to be fit for war if it should come – is to teach men
to shoot!" – President Theodore Roosevelt's last message to Congress.
Louisiana Governor Mike
Foster: "Most people don’t ever want to use a gun to protect themselves —
that’s the last thing they want to do — but if you know how and you have a
situation with some fruitcake running around, like they’ve got right now, it
sure can save you a lot of grief."
Ted Nugent: "To my mind it is wholly irresponsible to go into the
world incapable of preventing violence, injury, crime, and death. How feeble is
the mindset to accept defenselessness. How unnatural. How cheap. How cowardly.
How pathetic."
James Earl Jones: "The world is filled with violence.
Because criminals carry guns, we decent law-abiding citizens should
also have guns. Otherwise they will win and the decent people will
lose."
U.S. Sen. Malcolm Wallop: "The ruling class doesn't care
about public safety. Having made it very difficult for States and
localities to police themselves, having left ordinary citizens with no
choice but to protect themselves as best they can, they now try to
take our guns away. In fact they blame us and our guns for crime.
This is so wrong that it cannot be an honest mistake." - former U.S.
Sen. Malcolm Wallop (R-Wy.)
David Prosser, Wisconsin Supreme Court justice: "If the
constitutional right to keep and bear arms is to mean anything, it
must, as a general matter, permit a person to possess, carry and
sometimes conceal arms to maintain the security of his private
residence or privately operated business."
Paul Hager: "One of the arguments that had been made against gun
control was that an armed citizenry was the final bulwark against tyranny. My
response had been that untrained, lightly-armed non-soldiers couldn't prevail
against a modern army. I had concluded that the qualitative difference in
firepower was such that all of the previous rules of guerilla war no longer
applied. Both Vietnam and Afghanistan demonstrated that wasn't true. Repelling
an armed invasion is not something that American citizens are likely to face,
but the possibility of a despotic government coming to power is not wholly
unthinkable. One of the sequellae of Vietnam was the rise of the Khmer Rouge and
slaughter of perhaps a million Cambodian citizens. Those citizens, like the Jews
in Germany or the Armenians in Turkey, were unarmed and thus utterly and
completely defenseless against police and paramilitary. An armed minority was
able to kill and terrorize unarmed victims with total impunity." – Paul Hagar,
"Why I Carry"
Daniel Schmutter: "The tragic history of civilian disarmament cries a
warning against any systematic attempts to render innocent citizens ill-equipped
to defend themselves from tyrant terrorists, despots or oppressive majorities,"
Daniel Schmutter, lawyer for Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
Jeff Cooper: "Hoplophobia is a mental
disturbance characterized by irrational aversion to weapons, as
opposed to justified apprehension about those who may wield them."
Jeff Cooper, To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Speak the Truth
Larry Elder: "A woman who demands further gun control
legislation is like a chicken who roots for Colonel Sanders."
Click Here for Some
Bogus Gun Control Quotes
WHAT THE FOUNDING FATHERS THOUGHT ABOUT "GUN CONTROL"
Benjamin Franklin: Those who would give up essential liberty
to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." (Nov 11
1755, from the Pennsylvania Assembly's reply to the Governor of Pennsylvania.)
Thomas Jefferson: "The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are
laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor
determined to commit crimes....Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and
better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent
homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an
armed man. Thomas Jefferson's "Commonplace Book," 1774-1776, quoting
18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria in Chapter 40 of "On Crimes and
Punishment", 1764.
Thomas Jefferson: "A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the
species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to
the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games
played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body
and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant
companion of your walks." Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 1785. The
Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition) Lipscomb and Bergh, editors.
Thomas Jefferson: "The Constitution of most of our states (and of
the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they
may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all
times armed."
John Adams: "Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual
discretion in private self defense." (A defense of the Constitution of the US)
George Mason: "To disarm the people is the most effectual way to enslave
them." (3 Elliot, Debates at 380)
Noah Webster: "Before a standing army can rule, the people must be
disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe." (1787, Pamphlets on the
Constitution of the US)
Noah Webster: "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 band of regular troops" (Noah
Webster, 1787)
George Washington: "A free people ought to be armed." (Jan 14 1790,
Boston Independent Chronicle.)
Thomas Jefferson: "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of
arms." (T. Jefferson papers, 334, C.J. Boyd, Ed. 1950)
James Madison: "Americans have the right and advantage of being armed,
unlike the people of other countries, whose leaders are afraid to trust them with
arms." (Federalist Paper #46)
William Pitt: "Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human
freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." (Nov. 18, 1783)
Richard Henry Lee, Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress, Initiator of
the Declaration of Independence, and member of the first Senate, which passed the Bill of
Rights: "To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people
always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
Patrick Henry: "Guard with jealous
attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel.
Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give
up that force, you are ruined...The great object is that every man be armed.
Everyone who is able might have a gun."
St. George Tucker:
“This may be
considered as the true palladium of liberty… The right of self defence is the
first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to
confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing
armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under
any colour or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already
annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.”
Thomas Paine: "...arms...discourage and keep the
invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as
property. ...Horrid mischief would ensue were (the law-abiding) deprived the use
of them."
Bogus Quotes Attributed to the
Founders
WHAT THE FOUNDING FATHERS MEANT BY THE
"MILITIA"
George Mason: "I ask you sir, who are the
militia? They consist now of the whole people." (Elliott, Debates, 425-426)
Richard Henry Lee: "A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people
themselves...and include all men capable of bearing arms." (Additional letters from
the Federal Farmer, at 169, 1788)
James Madison: "A WELL REGULATED militia, composed of the people, trained
to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country." (1st Annals of
Congress, at 434, June 8th 1789, emphasis added.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Back in the 18th century, a "regular" army meant an
army that had standard military equipment. So a "well regulated" army was simply
one that was "well equipped." It does NOT refer to a professional army. The 17th
century folks used the term "STANDING Army" to describe a professional army.
THEREFORE, "a well regulated militia" only means a well equipped militia. It
does not imply the modern meaning of "regulated," which means controlled or
administered by some superior entity. Federal control over the militia comes from other
parts of the Constitution, but not from the second amendment. (my personal opinion)
Patrick Henry: "The people have a right to keep and bear arms."
(Elliott, Debates at 185)
Alexander Hamilton: "...that standing army can never be formidable
(threatening) to the liberties of the people, while there is a large body of citizens,
little if at all inferior to them in the use of arms." (Federalist Paper #29)
"Little more can be aimed at with respect to the people at large than to have them
properly armed and equipped." (Id) {responding to the claim that the militia itself
could threaten liberty}" There is something so far-fetched, and so extravagant in the
idea of danger of liberty from the militia that one is at a loss whether to treat it with
gravity or raillery (mockery). (Id)
Joseph Story: "The
militia is the natural defense of a free country against sudden foreign
invasions, domestic insurrections, and domestic usurpations of power by rulers.
It is against sound policy for a free people to keep up large military
establishments and standing armies in time of peace, both from the enormous
expenses, with which they are attended, and the facile means, which they afford
to ambitious and unprincipled rulers, to subvert the government, or trample upon
the rights of the people." (Story, Joseph. Commentaries on the
Constitution of the United States. 3 vols. Boston, 1833.)
President James Madison: "...to support the Constitution,
which is the cement of the Union, as well in its limitations as in its
authorities; to respect the rights and authorities reserved to the
States and to the people as equally incorporated with and essential to
the success of the general system;... to keep within the requisite
limits a standing military force, always remembering that an armed and
trained militia is the firmest bulwark of republics--that without
standing armies their liberty can never be in danger, nor with large
ones safe;..." President James Madison, First Inaugural
address, Saturday, March 4, 1809.
Tenche Coxe: "Who are the militia? Are they not
ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against
his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their
swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the
birthright of an American... The unlimited power of the sword is not in
the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust
in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people." Tenche
Coxe, The Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788.
William Rawle: "In the second article, it is declared,
that a well regulated militia is necessary to a free state; a
proposition from which few will dissent. Although in actual war, in the
services of regular troops are confessedly more valuable; yet while
peace prevails, and in the commencement of a war before a regular force
can be raised, the militia form the palladium of the country. They are
ready to repel invasion, to suppress insurrection, and preserve the good
order and peace of government. That they should be well regulated, is
judiciously added. A disorderly militia is disgraceful to itself, and
dangerous not to the enemy, but to its own country. The duty of the
state government is, to adopt such regulation as will tend to make good
soldiers with the least interruptions of the ordinary and useful
occupations of civil life. In this all the Union has a strong and
visible interest." William Rawle, "A View of the
Constitution of the United States of America" (1829)
CONTEMPORARY THINKERS COMMENT ON "MILITIA"
Professor Akhil Reed Amar: "The ultimate right to keep and
bear arms belongs to the 'the people,' not the 'states.' As the language
of the Tenth Amendment shows, these two of course are not identical and
when the Constitution means 'states,' it says so. Thus... 'the people'
at the core of the Second Amendment are the same 'the people' at the
heart of the Preamble and the First Amendment, namely
Citizens...Nowadays, it is quite common to speak loosely of the National
Guard as 'the state militia,' but...in 1789, when used without any
qualifying adjective, 'the militia' referred to all Citizens capable of
bearing arms. The militia is identical to 'the people' in the core sense
described above."
Professor Joyce Lee Malcolm: "The Second Amendment was meant
to accomplish two distinct goals...First, it was meant to guarantee
the individual's right to have arms for self-defense and
self-preservation. These privately owned arms were meant to serve a
larger purpose as well...and it is the coupling of these two
objectives that has caused the most confusion. The customary American
militia necessitated an armed public...the militia (being)...the body
of the people. The argument that today's National Guardsmen, members
of a select militia, would constitute the only persons entitled to
keep and bear arms has no historical foundation."
Alan Dershowitz: "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 public safety hazard,
don't see the danger in 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."
FOUNDING FATHERS INTENT BEHIND THE CONSTITUTION:
Samual Adams: "The Constitution shall never be construed
to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their
own arms." (Convention of the Commonwealth of Mass., 86-87, date still being sought)
Noah Webster: "Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption
of authority...the Constitution was made to guard against the dangers of good intentions.
There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise
to be good masters, but they mean to be masters." (Source still being sought)
Thomas Jefferson: "On every occasion...[of Constitutional interpretation]
let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the
spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying [to force] what meaning may be
squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, [instead let us] conform to the probable
one in which it was passed." (June 12 1823, Letter to William Johnson)
Joseph Story: "The right of the
citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of
the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the
usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are
successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over
them." (Story, Joseph. Commentaries on the Constitution of the United
States. 3 vols. Boston, 1833.)
RELIGION, WEAPONS AND SELF DEFENSE:
"Now there was no metal smith found in all the land of
Israel, for the Philistines had said, "Lest the Hebrews make for themselves swords or
spears"...But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, each man to sharpen
his plow blade, his coulter, his ax and his maddock. So it came to pass on the day of
battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that
were with Saul or Jonathan; but with Saul and Jonathan there was found [other lethal
weapons] 1 Samuel 13:19-22)
"Jesus said, 'But now whoever has a purse or a bag, must take it and whoever does
not have a sword must sell his cloak and buy one.'" (Luke 22:36)
"If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so he dies, the defender is not
guilty of bloodshed." (Exodus 22:2) (Note, the test later indicates that this
right to kill does not apply to a daytime break in. So in daylight, self defense must be
shone.)
"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his house, his possessions are safe."
(Luke 11:21) (Note, the text later states that a stronger or better armed
criminal could overpower a weaker or poorly armed victim, so get a 1911 .45 ACP!)
"A patriot without religion in my estimation is as great a paradox as
an honest Man without the fear of God. Is it possible that he whom no
moral obligations bind, can have any real Good Will towards Men? Can
he be a patriot who, by an openly vicious conduct, is undermining the
very bonds of Society?....The Scriptures tell us "righteousness
exalteth a Nation." Abigail Adams "We have no
government armed with power capable of contending with human passions
unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or
gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a
whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral
and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any
other." John Adams, Oct. 11, 1798 Address to the military
"The thing that separates the American Christian from every other
person on earth is the fact that he would rather die on his feet, than
live on his knees!" George Washington
"God
grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to
guard and defend it." Daniel Webster, Jun. 17, 1825 -
from a speech at the foundation of the Bunker Hill monument
commemorating the soldiers of the American Revolution.
"Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the
eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if
wrongdoers should dominate just men." St. Augustine A.D.
354-430
"Without doubt one is allowed to resist
against the unjust aggressor to one’s life, one’s goods or one’s
physical integrity; sometimes, even 'til the aggressor’s death... In
fact, this act is aimed at preserving one’s life or one’s goods and to
make the aggressor powerless. Thus, it is a good act, which is the
right of the victim." [There are three conditions under which
legitimate self-defense must lie:] "That he who is the target of the
force is an aggressor and an unjust aggressor... That the object of
the defence is an important good, such as the life, physical integrity
or worthy goods... [and] That defensive violence is proportionate to
aggression." [Under these conditions,] "One is also allowed [not
required] to kill other people’s unjust aggressor." Thomas Aquinas,
Dizionario ecclesiastico ("Ecclesiastic dictionary", UTET, 1959)
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