I want the state to take away people's guns. But I don't want the state to use methods against gun owners that I deplore when used against naughty children, sexual minorities, drug users, and unsightly drinkers. Since such reprehensible police practices are probably needed to make anti-gun laws effective, my proposal to ban all guns should probably be marked a failure before it is even tried. The worst threat to liberty comes not from those who simply seek their own aggrandizement, but from those who seek the good of others, identifying opposition to their desires with harm to the nation. 1966 Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent.
Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers.
If gun laws in fact worked, the sponsors of this type of legislation should have no difficulty drawing upon long lists of crime rates reduced by such legislation. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms Report of the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, 97th Congress, 2d Session. It may be argued that any legislation that would reduce the number of pistols in circulation would substantially reduce the number of aggravated assaults. The argument rests upon two mistaken premises. First, it assumes that restrictive legislation will prevent criminals from obtaining guns.