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 Favorite
Quotes from Jeff Cooper
“We are steadily asked about the age at which to teach young people to
shoot. The answer to this obviously depends upon the particular
individual; not only his physical maturity but his desire. Apart from
these considerations, however, I think it important to understand that
it is the duty of the father to teach the son to shoot. Before the young
man leaves home, there are certain things he should know and certain
skills he should acquire, apart from any state-sponsored activity.
Certainly the youngster should be taught to swim, strongly and safely,
at distance. And young people of either sex should be taught to drive a
motor vehicle, and if at all possible, how to fly a light airplane. I
believe a youngster should be taught the rudiments of hand-to-hand
combat, unarmed, together with basic survival skills. The list is long,
but it is a parent's duty to make sure that the child does not go forth
into the world helpless in the face of its perils. Shooting, of course,
is our business, and shooting should not be left up to the state.”
“It is interesting to hear certain kinds of people insist that the
citizen cannot fight the government. This would have been news to the
men of Lexington and Concord, as well as the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan.
The citizen most certainly can fight the government, and usually wins
when he tries. Organized national armies are useful primarily for
fighting against other organized national armies. When they try to fight
against the people, they find themselves at a very serious disadvantage.
If you will just look around at the state of the world today, you will
see that the guerillero has the upper hand. Irregulars usually defeat
regulars, providing they have the will. Such fighting is horrible to
contemplate, but will continue to dominate brute strength.” “It has never been clear to me why increased magazine capacity in a
defensive pistol is particularly choice. The bigger the magazine the
bigger the gun, and the bigger the gun the harder it is to get hold of
for people with small hands. And what, pray, does one need all those
rounds for? How many lethal antagonists do you think you are going to be
able to handle? Once when Bruce Nelson was asked by a suspect if the
thirteen-round magazine in the P35 was not a big advantage, Bruce's
answer was, "Well, yes, if you plan to miss a lot." The highest score I
know of at this time achieved by one man against a group of armed
adversaries was recorded in (of all places) the Ivory Coast! There, some
years ago, a graduate student of mine laid out five goblins, with four
dead and one totaled for the hospital. Of course there is the episode of
Alvin York and his eight, but there is some dispute about that tale. (If
you read it over very carefully you will see what I mean.) Be that as it
may, I see no real need for a double column magazine. It is all the
rage, of course, and like dual air bags, it is a popular current sales
gimmick.”
“One cannot legislate the maniacs off the street... these maniacs can
only be shut down by an armed citizenry. Indeed bad things can happen in
nations where the citizenry is armed, but not as bad as those which seem
to be threatening our disarmed citizenry in this country at this time.”
“Owning a handgun doesn't make you armed any more than owning a guitar
makes you a musician.”
“Remember the first rule of gunfighting... ‘have a gun.’"
“The police cannot protect the citizen at this stage of our development,
and they cannot even protect themselves in many cases. It is up to the
private citizen to protect himself and his family, and this is not only
acceptable, but mandatory.”
“The will to survive is not as important as the will to prevail... the
answer to criminal aggression is retaliation.”
"Safety is something that happens between your ears, not something you
hold in your hands."
"All the people constitute the militia — according to the Founding
Fathers. Therefore every able-bodied man has a duty under the
Constitution to become part of the "well-regulated" militia,
specifically to understand and perform well with the individual weapon
currently issued to the regular establishment. . . . Thus one who has
not qualified himself with the M-16 may not be considered to be a
responsible citizen."
On Federal Law Enforcement Officials:
"Already a couple of the faithful have sent in checks for a foundation
memorial to the innocents who perished at the hands of the ninja at
Waco. ... I have been criticized by referring to our federal masked men
as "ninja" … Let us reflect upon the fact that a man who covers his face
shows reason to be ashamed of what he is doing. A man who takes it upon
himself to shed blood while concealing his identity is a revolting
perversion of the warrior ethic. It has long been my conviction that a
masked man with a gun is a target. I see no reason to change that view."
“One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not
agree that ‘violence begets violence.’ I told him that it is my earnest
endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure—and in
some cases I have—that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen
begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy.”
– Cooper vs. Terrorism
"The purpose of the pistol is to stop a fight that somebody else has
started, almost always at very short range."
"Bushido is all very well in its way, but it is no match for a 30-06."
“A free man must not be told how to think, either by the government or
by social activists. He may certainly be shown the right way, but he
must not accept being forced into it.”
“The conclusions seem inescapable that in certain circles a tendency has
arisen to fear people who fear government. Government, as the Father of
Our Country put it so well, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
People who understand history, especially the history of government, do
well to fear it. For a people to express openly their fear of those of
us who are afraid of tyranny is alarming. Fear of the state is in no
sense subversive. It is, to the contrary, the healthiest political
philosophy for a free people.” – Jeff Cooper's Commentaries, vol. 4, no.
16, December, 1996
"Hoplophobia is a mental disturbance characterized by irrational
aversion to weapons, as opposed to justified apprehension about those
who may wield them." – To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Speak the Truth
“The media insist that crime is the major concern of the American public
today. In this connection they generally push the point that a disarmed
society would be a crime-free society. They will not accept the truth
that if you take all the guns off the street you still will have a crime
problem, whereas if you take the criminals off the street you cannot
have a gun problem.”
“In the larger sense, however, the personal ownership of firearms is
only secondarily a matter of defense against the criminal. Note the
following from Thomas Jefferson:
The strongest reason for the people to keep and bear arms is, as a last
resort, to protect themselves against the tyranny of government.
That is why our masters in Washington are so anxious to disarm us. They
are not afraid of criminals. They are afraid of a populace which cannot
be subdued by tyrants.” – Jeff Cooper's Commentaries, Vol. 2, No. 5, May
1994 “The 1911 pistol remains the service pistol of choice in the eyes of
those who understand the problem. Back when we audited the FBI academy
in 1947, I was told that I ought not to use my pistol in their training
program because it was not fair. Maybe the first thing one should demand
of his sidearm is that it be unfair.” — Col. Jeff Cooper, GUNS & AMMO,
January 2002
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