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Here are 463 illustrative statements about arms including firearms and swords, and related matters, which were made during the last 3,016 years by 176 famous and infamous gender- and sexual-minority celebrities including a few who are fictional. Most of them support or supported the right to keep and bear arms; a few don't or didn't, but made supportive statements nonetheless. As with all things, gender- and sexual-minority people aren't monolithic about arms, and never have been, but the people published here show a variety of us who include and included arms in our lives, mostly for good. When I finished the first edition of this information, it revealed a remarkable recent increase of the number of published portrayals of certain infamous celebrities. I don't believe that these portrayals are unique to their times or as representative of us as their frequency might imply. Arms were undoubtedly misused throughout history by people regardless of who they were; for every Rohm, there was a Lincoln or two. I suspect that such misuse by gender and sexual minorities was ignored until recently because it was considered socially as inconsequential and pathetic as their infamous users. I suspect also that the recent increase in this attention is simply a kind of morbid curiosity with the ways that these heretofore invisible people sometimes included arms in their lives. I've included the quotations to describe the complete historical context in which we, and our predecessors, live with arms. David Nelson Comments about content, including
intellectual-property and libel, are welcome at owner@stonewallshootingsportsutah.org.
This March 8, 2006 edition supersedes all previous editions. Celebrity names are sorted
on this page from the recent to the distant. An index
is located at the bottom of this page to help you find the fictional
names and nonfictional surnames quickly. FILM "MONSTER" CHARACTER "AILEEN" (See: AILEEN (CAROL) "LEE" WUORNOS) (2003) "I didn't want to die thinking you might love me, so I killed him." Return
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to Top FILM "THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS" CHARACTER "CHARRA" (2003) "Grab my belt." [Zee grabs her belt and Charra hangs over the precipice] "Just give me one clean shot." [Shoots, but fails to find her intended mark] "Shit." [Zee: "You scared, Charra?"] "Shit, yeah. I'll make you a deal, though. You keep loadin', I keep shootin'." Return
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to Top FILM "ELEPHANT" CHARACTER "ALEX" (2003) "Get the fuck out, and don't come back! Some heavy shit's going down!" "Most importantly, have fun." Return
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to Top FILM "PARTY MONSTER" CHARACTER "MICHAEL ALIG" (See: MICHAEL ALIG) (2003) "But, it's my birthday and I wanna have a blood feast!" Return
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to Top FILM "ANGELS IN AMERICA" CHARACTER "ROY MARCUS COHN" (See: ROY (MARCUS) M. COHN) (2003) "I hate traitors. I HATE Communists. Was it legal? Fuck legal. Not nice? Fuck nice. The Nation says I'm not nice? FUCK THE NATION. Do you wanna be NICE, or you wanna be EFFECTIVE?" "Like all labels, they tell you one thing and one thing only: Where does an individual so identified fit into the food chain -- the pecking order; not ideology or sexual taste, but something much simpler -- clout; not who I fuck or who fucks me but who will come to the phone when I call -- who owes me favors. This is what a label refers to. Now, to someone who does not understand this, a homosexual is what I am because I have sex with men, but really this is wrong. A homosexual is somebody who, in 15 years of trying, cannot get a pissant anti-discrimination bill through the city council. A homosexual is somebody who knows nobody and who nobody knows; who has zero clout. Does this sound like me...?" "[My heart's a] [t]ough little muscle; never bleeds." "You trying to scare me? Well, you're wasting your time! I'm scarier than you any day of the week, so beat it...! Boo! Better dead than red! Somebody trying to shake me up? HAH HAH! From the throne of God in Heaven to the belly of Hell, you can all fuck yourselves and then go jump in the lake because I'm not afraid of you or death or Hell or anything!" Return
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to Top "DEEPDICKOLLECTIVE" MUSICIANS 25PERCENTER, POINTFIVEFAG, JB AND MR. MANMAN (2002) [Lyrics] "I place a hex; on hets who say homos; ain't really Negroes/ain't really heroes; who gonna hold the gun; when the pale horse come; to get yo black ass; when other blacks/ain't have your back." [Lyrics] "[M]y kin be lesbo, drag queens, hetero, and bi; reverse the direction of the boom bye-bye; without resortin' to tit for tat; stand strong lil ones, me gats guns." Return
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to Top "JUHA" MUSICIANS JOJOBOY, GHALIB AND ADAM CAPRICCIO (2002) [Lyrics] "See that soldier dressed in green who says his are the chosen. When the kiddies throwing stones, he blast their heads wide open. Yalla-yalla -- gun-glint in the sun. Killing is not killing when it's God who shoots the gun." Return
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to Top TELEVISION-SERIES "QUEER AS FOLK" CHARACTER "BRIAN KINNEY" (2000-2005) "Cops in the streets. Cops in the bars. Cops in the clubs. It's fucking depressing!" [Justin: "Unless you're into cops."] "For someone who's never seen a Western on principle, you have an awfully keen interest in firearms. Where'd you get it?" "He stole all my clothes. I'm suspecting gay-on-gay crime here." "Well, now [Babylon's] a battleground. Enough people have already died. Anyway, who'd pay 20 bucks to dance in the memory of bombs and corpses?" "You're not running around the streets with a concealed weapon!" Return
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to Top TELEVISION-SERIES "QUEER AS FOLK" CHARACTER "CODY BELL" (2000-2005) "Don't say 'please!' Say you're sorry. Say 'I'm so very sorry.'" "Drop the knife. Drop-the-fucking-knife!" "I had a six-shooter ... before I had a two-wheeler. Where I grew up, everyone did." "I'll tell you my little secret. See how [the target] has no face? Well, I give it one. Someone who deserves a bullet between the eyes. Like Wayne; captain of the football team. He and his jock buddies held me down while he carved 'faggot' on my ass with a penknife. Bang! Or, Mr. Mackley who made me show it to the class. Or, my father who slapped me across the face when I told him what they did. Bang!" "Okay. So, hold it with your right hand. Now, line up your sight with your right eye and pull the trigger." "Who do you think will come running? Them? They cant even defend themselves. The cops? If a bunch of homo haters wanna beat the shit out of you, you're not gonna stop them by blowing a little whistle." "You think anyone would dare call a black man a nigger? And, try calling an Israeli a kike! Man, they'd blow your ass right off the face of the Earth. But, they have no prob calling us fags. Why? Because they can. Because they know we're all sissies, that we're too chickenshit to do anything. So, go on. Sign your petitions and write your letters. And, blow your little whistles. But, nothing's going to change until you fight back; until you learn to say 'Don't -- fuck -- with -- me!'" Return
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to Top TELEVISION-SERIES "QUEER AS FOLK" CHARACTER "DEBBIE NOVOTNY" (2000-2005) "Out of my way or I'll punch you out." "There is an alternative to going out in a blaze of glory, and that's giving 'em all the big 'Fuck you.'" Return
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to Top TELEVISION-SERIES "QUEER AS FOLK" CHARACTER "DREW BOYD" (2000-2005) "What is heroic is standing up for the rights you deserve, no matter what the consequences. And, that's exactly what those who were injured -- and who lost their lives last night -- were doing, or trying to before they were stopped. But, they were up against a powerful opponent -- hatred. Hatred spread by those that want to deny others what's rightfully theirs. In the name of THEIR God, THEIR family, THEIR country. I guess they forgot that America belongs to everyone." Return
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to Top TELEVISION-SERIES "QUEER AS FOLK" CHARACTER "EMMETT HONEYCUTT" (2000-2005) "I've been beaten up, cursed at, spit on, ignored ... but, in a way, it was worth it because I have never had to live a lie, and I'm not about to start now; not for you, not for anyone." Return
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to Top TELEVISION-SERIES "QUEER AS FOLK" CHARACTER "JUSTIN TAYLOR" (2000-2005) "And, I wouldn't call the police. You don't want to have to tell them a couple of faggots made you shit your pants." "Don't -- fuck -- with -- me!" "If you wanna hit me, go right ahead because I'm not gonna cry like some little faggot. And, if you wanna send me off to boarding school, that's fine too because I bet more butt fucking goes on in boarding schools than in the back room of Babylon. But, whatever you do, it doesn't matter, because I'll still be your queer son." "Now, you know what it feels like; the fear that all faggots feel all their lives, walking down the street, holding hands -- BECAUSE OF ASSHOLES LIKE YOU! And you know what? [Cocks the trigger] We're tired of it." "They hate us! They want us dead! Now, gimme the goddamn gun!" "Well, listen up, now that your hearing has returned: This queer says 'FUCK YOU.'" "Where the fuck did you get a gun?" "Wow. That was intense." "You're a really good shot." Return
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to Top PINK PISTOLS (2000) "Armed Gays Don't Get Bashed." Return
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to Top FILM "HAPPY, TEXAS" CHARACTER "HARRY 'STEVEN' SAWYER" (1999) "Don't make me come after you. They'll shoot me!" "I understand that's the most painful place to be shot in." Return
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to Top TELEVISION-SERIES "THE SOPRANOS" CHARACTER "VITO SPATAFORE" (1999) "Please. I may be distressed, but I know how to keep my mouth shut." Return
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to Top TELEVISION-SERIES "WILL & GRACE" CHARACTER "KAREN WALKER" (1998-PRESENT) "Everybody, this my friend Karen. For those of you with guns, feel free to take the safeties off," character Will Truman. "Of all the days to loan my gun to the kids." [Does Karen ever go too far, or get too nasty?] "There was a whole thing where Karen carried a gun in her purse, and she took Grace to the shooting gallery," actress Megan Mullally. Return
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to Top STONEWALL INN BAR RIOTS WITNESS MORTY MANFORD (UNK.-AFT. 1997) "One way or the other, though, gay people had stood up and rebelled. I wasn't looking for a fight. I can't claim credit for the small acts of violence that took place. I didn't break any windows. I wasn't the one who had a knife and cut the tires on the paddy wagon. I didn't hit a cop and didn't get hit by a cop. I saw people breaking windows, but I didn't stay too much longer." "In those days the New York City police had a guerrilla-prone cadre known as the Tactical Police Force, the TPF. Who knows whether the violence would have escalated in the way it did if the TPF had not come in? That's what they always looked for; they wanted confrontation. Chasing after people and hitting them with their billy clubs, I think, provoked a greater response than there would have been otherwise." "Somebody took an uprooted parking meter and broke the glass in the front window and the plywood board that was behind it. Then somebody else took a garbage can -- one of those wire-mesh cans -- set it on fire, and threw the burning garbage into the premises. The area that was set afire was where the coatroom was. They had a fire hose inside, and they used it." "[T]he only raid where I was actually inside the bar was at the Stonewall. The night of the raid, some men in suits and ties entered the place and walked around a little bit, then whispers went around that the place was being raided. It may have been ten or fifteen minutes later that we were all told to leave. [S]ome people in the crowd started throwing pennies across the street at the front of the Stonewall." "Then someone apparently threw a rock, which broke one of the windows on the second floor. [T]he crowd collectively exclaimed, 'Ooh.' It was a dramatic gesture of defiance. A few more rocks went flying, and then somebody from inside the bar opened the door and stuck out a gun. He yelled for people to stay back. Then he withdrew the gun, closed the door, and went back inside." "Then they opened the front door and turned the hose on the crowd to try to keep people at a distance. That's when the riot erupted. Apparently, a fire engine had been summoned because of the trash fire. As it came down the block, uniformed police started to arrive. They came down the street in a phalanx of blue with their riot gear on." Return
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to Top FILM "BOUND" CHARACTER "CORKY" (1996) "Caesar's Mafia, isn't he?" "Either pull the trigger, or get that fucking thing out of my face." "That means he probably will kill Johnnie." "You can't kill me yet." "You could have got him killed knowing that Caesar would bring the money to the apartment." Return
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to Top FILM "BOUND" CHARACTER "VIOLET" (1996) "Bullshit, you killed him. Not me." "Caesar, you just killed Gino Marzzone." "Gunfire? Is this a joke?" "He can't kill you." "He wants to kill him." "I want what's mine. I want half the money. We get rid of Mickey, and no one else dies; no one." "I should have let him kill you." "Now, you listen to me, asshole. I know your gun is behind the bar." "Strange. Nobody calls [the Mafia] that anymore. Caesar calls it 'the business.'" "You murdered Gino!" Return
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to Top GAY AND LESBIAN ALLIANCE (1996) "They bash us and stab us and shoot us and bomb us in ever-increasing numbers and, still, we freak out when angry queers carry banners or signs that say 'BASH BACK.'" Return
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to Top FILM "STONEWALL" CHARACTER "BOSTONIA" (1995) [Uniformed Cop: "Poor little faggot don't know whether to kill me or kiss me."] [Hits the cop] "Guess I made up my mind." Return
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to Top FILM "STONEWALL" CHARACTER "LA MIRANDA" (1995) "Matty Dean? Baby? I'm your knight in shining armor, baby. Your boy and your lady. I'm your mama lion. I'm your man. I will fight for you, dress for you ... even cry for you, but only for you, baby. Never for them. NEVER for them." Return
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to Top FILM "STONEWALL" CHARACTER "MATTY DEAN" (1995) "Don't you ever get this angry?" [La Miranda: "I don't do angry."] "How can they just do this? Like we don't have a fucking constitution or nothing." [La Miranda: "We don't! They do!"] Return
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to Top FILM "ED WOOD" CHARACTER "ED WOOD" (1994) "Shit! Bela, what's with the gun? Can you put down the gun? Bela, I'm on your side. C'mon, give me the gun. If you give me the gun, I'll make you a drink. What are you drinking?" Return
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to Top FILM "JFK" CHARACTER "DAVID FERRIE" (See: DAVID (WILLIAM) FERRIE) (1991) "Oh man, why don't you fuckin' stop it? Shit, this is too fuckin' big for you, you know that? 'Who did the president? Who killed Kennedy?' Fuck man! It's a mystery! It's a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma! The fuckin' shooters don't even know! Don't you get it?" Return
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to Top QUEER NATION (1990) "Queers Bash Back." Return
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to Top TELEVISION-SERIES "THE SIMPSONS" CHARACTER "PATTY BOUVIER" (1989-PRESENT) "Do I smell gun powder?" Return
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to Top TELEVISION-SERIES "THE SIMPSONS" CHARACTER "WAYLON SMITHERS JR." (1989-PRESENT) "Maggie shot Mr. Burns again!" [Mr. Burns: "Bring the mind-eraser device!"] "You mean the revolver, sir?" Return
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to Top WRITER JAMES "JIM" LEVIN (UNK.-AFT. 1983) "Stonewall was the trigger for the gun, but the gun was so well loaded that any number of other events might well have fired it." Return
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to Top MUSICIAN "CYCLONE" JONES (1982-PRESENT) [Lyrics] "Until then, Imma keep them hollow points in." Return
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to Top COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT AND KILLER ERIC (DAVID) "REB" HARRIS (1981-1999) "All I want is a couple of guns and ... I will probably not get any! Come on, I'll have a clean record and I only want them for personal protection. It's not like I'm some psycho who would go on a shooting spree." "[A]ll you fitness fuckheads saying shit like 'yeah ... don't sell guns.'" "[D]ont blame ... stores for selling us ammo ... because its not their fault." "[D]on't be in my line of fire." "Fire arms we arent sure of yet, hopefully V [Dylan Bennet 'voDKa' Klebold] will have his #3 and plenty of ammo for it." "For me, I don't know what weapon ill have. I just want a firearm that can hold lots of bullets and that wont jam on me. So ill need lots of clips to. Ill have those strapped onto my chest." "[F]ucker should be shot. same thing with all those rich snotty toadies." "Go ahead and change gun laws -- how do you think we got ours?" "[H]ardly ever do people bring ... guns to school anyway." "I have my carbine, shotgun, ammo and knife all in my trunk tonight and theyll stay there till tomorrow after school. You know, its really a shame -- I had a lot of fun at that gun show, I would have loved it if you were there dad. we would have done some major bonding. would have been great. oh well." "[I] WILL be armed to the fuckin teeth and i WILL shoot to kill." "I will ... mow down a whole fucking area full of you snotty ass rich mother fucking high strung godlike attitude having worthless pieces of shit whores." "I would shoot you in the motherfucking head!" "If you disagree, I would shoot you ... some people go through life begging to be shot." "Ill go to some downtown area in some big ass city and ... shoot everything I can." "[O]nce the first wave starts to go off and the chaos begins, V [Dylan Bennet 'voDKa' Klebold] opens fire. Then I open fire." "Our plan is better, not like those fucks in Kentucky with camouflage and .22s." "Personaly i think they should be shot." "Shut up and shoot it." "[W]e went downtown and purchased the following; a double barrel 12 ga. shotgun, a pump action 12 ga. shotgun, a 9mm carbine, 250 9mm rounds, 15 12 ga slugs, 40 shotgun shells, 2 switch blade knives, and a total of 4-10 round clips for the carbine. we ... have ... GUNS! we fucking got em you sons of bitches!" "You know we can't have any weapons on school grounds." Return
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to Top STONEWALL INN BAR RIOTS WITNESS RUDY GRILLO (UNK.-AFT. 1985) "I was doing more running than fighting. I remember looking back from 10th Street, and there on Waverly Street there was a police -- I believe on his -- a cop and he is on his stomach in his tactical uniform and his helmet and everything else, with a drag queen straddling him. She was beating the Hell out of him with her shoe. Whether it was a high heel or not, I don't know, but she was beating the Hell out of him." Return
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to Top STONEWALL INN BAR RIOTS WITNESS "MAMA" JEAN DEVENTE (UNK.-AFT. 1977) "[W]e saw everything happening. People getting beat up. Police coming from every direction, hitting women as well as men with their nightsticks. Gay men running down the street with blood all over their face. We decided right then and there, whether we're scared or not, we didn't think about, we just jumped in. I remember one cop coming at me, hitting me with the nightstick on the back of my legs. I broke loose and I went after him. I grabbed his nightstick. My girlfriend went behind him -- she was a strong son of a gun. I wanted him to feel the same pain that I felt. And I kept saying to him, 'How do you like the pain? Do you like it? Do you like it?' And, I kept on hitting him and hitting him. I was angry. I wanted to kill him. At that particular minute, I wanted to kill him." Return
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to Top STONEWALL INN BAR RIOTS WITNESS HOWARD SMITH (UNK.-AFT. 1977) "On the night of the Stonewall riots ... people ... were yelling 'Kill the cops! Police brutality! Let's get 'em! We're not going to take this anymore! Let's get 'em!' There were a couple of cops stationed on either side of the door with their pistols, like in combat stance, aimed in the door area. A couple of others were stationed in other places, behind like a pole, another one behind the bar. All of them with their guns ready." Return
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to Top MUSICIAN (ERNEST HARDY) "DEADLEE" (1975-PRESENT) "I don't hold back. There's no question as to what I'm saying and who I am. I hit you right off with 'Suck Muh Gun.' My gun is my voice, my cock. Or you can take it literally as a weapon. I'm taking the whole gangster image and flipping it. I'm a strong gay man, and I'm challenging all these motherfucks to try and challenge my manhood. They can't! I use my sexuality as a plus, treat straight fucks like they've treated and disrespected women and gays all these years. I'm one faggot you can't fuck with. I break out of the stereotype." Return
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to Top FENCER IMKE DUPLITZER (1975-PRESENT) "Which is worse? The wrong that others do to you, or the wrong that you do to yourself every day with your fear?" Return
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to Top ACTRESS ANGELINA JOLIE (VOIGHT) (1975-PRESENT) "I don't think that's that crazy. I lived in New York by myself for three years. I had a knife under the mattress, you know? I have a case that I lock all my knives in when [(William Robert) 'Billy Bob' Thornton's] children are in. And they can't go in that room -- that's the weapons room. That's where Billy's guns are. There's a lock on it." "We went to gun training, which is actually one of the most dangerous things two actors can do... You had to trust each other to cross under or over and only move when the other person moves, so the trust, when somebody's got a loaded gun at your back... It made us trust each other quickly, you know?" "'What am I doing? I'm not going to be able to do this. I'm not going to pull it off.' I couldn't get the guns even on my sides." Return
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to Top FILM "DOG DAY AFTERNOON" CHARACTER "LEON" (1975) "The things that you do, Sonny. You put a gun to somebody's head, and you say 'go to sleep, so that it won't hurt when I pull the trigger.'" Return
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to Top FILM "DOG DAY AFTERNOON" CHARACTER "SONNY WORTZIK" (See: JOHN "LITTLEJOHN BASSO" S. WOJTOWICZ) (1975) "...armed robbery." "Come on. Nobody's gonna get hurt. If they were gonna shoot, they'd shoot now." "I'm not gonna shoot you." "Let's say I put a gun to your head and I tell you to kill a cop, and you did. Who'd go to the electric chair, you or me?" "The gun's right on your back." "They'll shoot you. The fucking cops'll shoot you. They don't give a damn. You see what they did in Attica. They shot everybody. The hostages, prisoners, cops, guards; forty-two people they killed, the innocent with the guilty." "They're gonna blow our guts out, man! You're gonna see our brains onna sidewalk!" "To what, learn how to shoot? They don't get a gun." "What the Hell would I shoot her for?" "You'd like to kill me. Betcha would. It's your job, right? You know, the guy who kills me, I hope he does it 'cause he hates my guts, not 'cause it's his job." Return
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to Top ACTOR CHAD ALLEN (LAZZARI) (1974-PRESENT) "All things considered, it would have been fun to be a (cool) gunslinger like Clint Eastwood is in the movies." "Joe Lando, who played Sully, really was like an older brother. We both loved motorcycles and guns." [As television character Sheriff Matthew Cooper] "I ain't crazy 'bout the idea, either, but if everybody else comin' into town is wearin' a gun, then I'd better have one, too." [As television character Sheriff Matthew Cooper] "I still wanna be sheriff, I just don't think folks should be runnin' 'round town with guns, myself included." Return
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to Top KILLER ANDREW CUNANAN (1969-1997) [King of France Louis XV: "Apres moi, le deluge."] "After me, disaster." Return
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to Top U.S. NAVY RESERVE LT. TRACY W. THORNE (1967-PRESENT) "I am proud to be who I am and I do not deny my sexual orientation. I consider my sexual life, whether orientation or conduct, as private as anyone else's and I do not believe it should be of interest or concern to the Navy." "[Thorne is a] hard-charging young lieutenant who had done very well in his first fitness report. Had exemplary comments concerning his airmanship. He had been assigned probably one of the harder jobs in the squadron as the first lieutenant," U.S. Navy Reserve Cmdr. Craig Lang Luigart. Return
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to Top MUSICIAN KURT (DONALD) COBAIN (1967-1994) [Lyrics] "And, he likes to shoot his gun." "I'm not against guns. I own one. I believe in them for protection. I'm not as much of a hippy as some people want me to be." [Lyrics] "Load up on guns and bring your friends." Return
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to Top KILLER MICHAEL ALIG (See: "MICHAEL ALIG") (1965-PRESENT) "There are always gonna be people who hate you no matter what." Return
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to Top WRITER DAN SAVAGE (1965-PRESENT) "[Gun owners] always seemed like an angry bunch of yahoos to me." "I certainly have a higher regard for ... shooting ranges than I did going into it. I wanted to see if I could get to that same place with guns ... and I did. That surprised me. I went to Texas fully expecting to ride an anti-gun screed and write about how idiotic I felt shooting and how stupid pulling that trigger was, and I really enjoyed it." [While writing "Skipping Towards Gomorrah"] "I chose a couple of things that I didn't want to do, like shoot; I'm not really into guns." "While gun owners are always saying that owning guns is about defending freedom, the only freedom gun owners seem interested in defending with their guns is the freedom to defend their freedom to own guns. For a freedom fan such as myself, this seems a little limited. All that firepower -- 200 million guns -- dedicated to defending just one freedom?" Return
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to Top FILM "GOLDFINGER" CHARACTER "PUSSY GALORE" (1964) "Oh, I, uh ... never carry weapons after business hours. I'm completely defenseless!" Return
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to Top TELEVISION-SERIES "DOCTOR WHO" CHARACTER "CAPT. JACK HARKNESS" (1963-PRESENT) "The Doctor takes Rose and Jack to room 802 and asks Jack to blast open the door; he could use his sonic screwdriver, but he wants a closer look at Jack's gun. He recognizes it as a sonic blaster with a digital-blast pattern originating from the 51st-century weapons factories of Villengard. Jack is surprised to learn that the Doctor is responsible for blowing up the weapons factories; now, they've been replaced with banana groves. Jack points his gun at the child only to discover that he's now holding a banana and that the Doctor has the gun. The Doctor disintegrates a hole in the wall and, as soon as he, Rose and Jack have leapt through, Jack grabs back his gun and reintegrates the wall. Rose uses Jack's gun to disintegrate a hole in the floor, which Jack then reintegrates once they've fallen through," British Broadcasting Corp. Return
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to Top WRITER ANDREW SULLIVAN (1963-PRESENT) "I'm basically against gun control and for gay rights -- for much the same reason. Liberty, and all that." Return
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to Top WRITER AND RADIO BROADCASTER TAMMY BRUCE (1962-PRESENT) "As a firearm owner, I am a staunch advocate of the Second Amendment." "As a woman, I know that a firearm is the only thing that truly equalizes me if I'm faced with someone determined to do me harm." "Europe's history has shown us that a defenseless citizenry invites nothing less than criminal anarchy and tyrannical dictatorships." "I've written a great deal about my love for Snuffy, my .38 snub-nose Smith & Wesson." "[If] a man who wishes me harm is close enough to touch me, he's already too close. Anyone who enters my home with malevolent intentions will not leave standing up. It's that simple." "In fact, let's use the example of Washington, D.C. Guns are banned there and, as a result, it is the murder capitol of the country. Why? Because bad guys know that law-abiding citizens of Washington, D.C. are sitting ducks." "Ironically, England implemented its own gun-control legislation in 1997 with disastrous repercussions. They now have a higher violent-crime rate than not only New York, but every state of the union, including of course, Florida." "My support of the right of gun ownership is not based, however, in some esoteric theory, it's based in the reality that guns make people safer." "The deranged and the criminal will always get their guns, just as those who wanted a drink during Prohibition got their booze." "Those who argue to disarm us simply do not trust Americans, and perhaps even despise what has made this country great -- traits like the individualism fostered in part by rights like the Second Amendment." "Two thugs from south Los Angeles ventured into West Hollywood armed with bats and brutally attacked several gay men. It's safe to say those bent on committing violence for whatever reason would think twice if they knew their potential targets could defend themselves in the most definitive of ways." Return
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to Top COMEDIAN (EDWARD JOHN) "EDDIE" IZZARD (1962-PRESENT) "Guns don't kill people, people kill people -- and monkeys do, too, if they have a gun." Return
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to Top COMEDIENNE (ROSEANNE TERESA) "ROSIE" O'DONNELL (1962-PRESENT) "I don't personally own a gun, but if you are qualified, licensed and registered, I have no problem." Return
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to Top MUSICIAN "BOY" GEORGE (ALAN O'DOWD) (1961-PRESENT) "A search warrant was issued and more of the drug was allegedly found at the flat along with a gun holster," (London) Sunday Mirror. Return
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to Top WRITER JONATHAN RAUCH (1960-PRESENT) "[H]omosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible." Return
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to Top MUSICIAN MADONNA (LOUISE VERONICA CICCONE) (1958-PRESENT) [Lyrics] "You're a man with a gun in your hand, waging a war between good and evil can be a bore. If you don't take time, it's not nice, so here's my advice: Take your love on the run. Oh God, let me be the one. Ah, ah, ah, man with a gun." Return
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to Top KILLER AILEEN (CAROL) "LEE" WUORNOS (See: "AILEEN") (1956-2002) "I'm one who seriously hates human life and would kill again." Return
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to Top MAGICIAN PENN (FRASER) JILLETTE (1955-PRESENT) "Twelve magicians and two carnies have been shot dead doing the bullet catch. That's cool enough, but every night when we close our show with that trick and the loaded gun gets pointed in my face, it goes so far beyond cool. All I can think is 12 magicians, two carnies." "We use real .357 Magnums. In England and in Canada, we haven't been able to do [The Bullet Catch because of their] ... gun laws." Return
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to Top HIV/AIDS LEADER RODGER MCFARLANE (1955-PRESENT) "At the street level, you don't have any choice about whether you're going to fight together or not." "I feel like it's wartime, particularly on lesbian and gay civil rights issues." "I grew up on a farm. I had a gay brother. Our parents were fantastic, encouraging us to do anything. My brother and I grew up thinking we were special, when most gay kids get beaten up and called sissy and faggot. We just basically stomped anybody who got in our way. We ran faster and jumped higher and made better grades. And I could gut a deer more neatly than most of the men in Alabama. So I didn't grow up with that trauma of being gay. Obviously, it didn't slow me down. Then that was reinforced in the Navy." "I have the street cred." "I was a Navy nuke, which is a different breed. I ran the propulsion plant, the nuclear reactor, on a fastattack submarine up under the North Pole for six months at a time. [T]hose missions have been declassified. We were doing espionage, basically. [W]hen you are 1,000 feet under the water, straddling a nuclear reactor with a polar ice cap over you and a Soviet sub hunter chasing you, knowing one's stuff really matters. We were all sorts of Americans trapped in a little tube, 100 men, underwater for six months at a time in mortal danger. You did your job, and you did it perfectly every time, because that's what the stakes demanded. Those men trusted me with their lives, not because I was gay or straight, but because I was one of the most reliable reactor operators under fire they had ever seen." "I'm an expert in several firearms." [Did you take gun training?] "No, but I would have. My best friend is Rodger McFarlane, who had been a Navy Seal -- the equivalent of a Green Beret -- and he'd had training in a lot of that stuff. And we used to fantasize about if the two of us could somehow just go and knock off people around the country," writer Larry Kramer. "We're also working very closely with our progressive friends who are wrestling with ... gun control, realizing that we have many of the same enemies and the same end goals." Return
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to Top COMICS "THE RAWHIDE KID" CHARACTER "JOHNNY BART" (1955) "I just want to meet him [the Lone Ranger]. I think that mask and powder blue outfit are fantastic. I can certainly see why the Indian follows him around." Return
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to Top FILMMAKER CLIVE BARKER (1952-PRESENT) "Are acts of violence more likely to be propagated by material as unattractive as Last House on the Left or the immaculately back-lit Sylvester Stallone with a phallic gun in his hand?" "Here's the beast, here's the gun -- you know what to do. But a couple of things the guys at DreamWorks said to me at the beginning, which was very seductive for me, was that they were much more into the supernatural than guns." "I'm saying that the human imagination works lots of ways, and when confronted with evil it doesn't have to take a sawn-off shotgun and blow its head off. Equally, we all have a fascination with violence. We all have a fascination with violent death. We all have a fascination for forbidden material, whether it be the forbidden material of sexuality, or transcendence, or physical transformation as in the images of a Cronenberg movie, and it doesn't hurt us to confront those images vicariously through fiction. In fact I think that it's actually very therapeutic." Return
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to Top FILMMAKER GUS VAN SANT JR. (1952-PRESENT) "I have my ideas why Columbine happened, but that's not this film." "I think it was more horrifying to have authority figures actually killing people on the evening news than to see teenagers killing each other." "Lots of incidents in my film come from information about what actually happened at Columbine. When Alex drinks from a cup in the cafeteria, that's from a Columbine surveillance film." "[P]eople kept saying, 'It's those [video] games that cause violence,' so I started watching them and playing them. I played 'Tomb Raider' until I was obsessed with it. If you obsessively do anything, like playing solitaire for solid weeks, that might influence your behavior, make you antisocial. If you play 'Doom,' you are meeting people on the Internet, you dodge bullets, shoot them. The person you just shot might be a 14-year-old girl in Minnesota. If you do that for a long time, you start to fantasize. You might say, 'Let's get back at people we don't like.' In 'Elephant,' one of the killers is briefly playing a video game." Return
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to Top MUSICIAN ROB HALFORD (1951-PRESENT) [Lyrics] "I'm gonna shoot it, 'cause I'm locked and loaded." "[I]t was important that we were there to stand up for ourselves and for our music and, to some extent, for the values of the American Constitution, which is rather ironic considering it was four Englishmen." Return
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to Top U.S. REP. STEVEN (CRAIG) GUNDERSON, R-WIS. (1951-PRESENT) "[T]he debate about guns is as old as these United States of America. The American Revolution was about tyranny of the few over the many; and the power to control the masses included the ability to control firearms. As a result, our Founding Fathers believed it essential to guarantee the right to bear arms as a way to prevent history from repeating itself." "[T]he second amendment has served us well -- for food, for defense and for sport. Guns were necessary to secure food and for protection as families settled our country during the early years of the country. Gun skills were vital to life then, remained important through two World Wars, and are still important today." Return
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to Top U.S. PRESIDENT REAGAN SPEECHWRITER (JOHN) TERRY DOLAN (1950-1986) "Evil empire." "Groups like ours are potentially very dangerous to the political process. We could be a menace, yes. A group like ours could lie through its teeth and the candidate it helps stays clean." "[M]ake them angry and stir up hostilities. The shriller you are, the easier it is to raise funds. That's the nature of the beast." Return
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to Top U.S. ARMY SGT. MIRIAM BEN-SHALOM (1948-PRESENT) "I was a drill sergeant in the United States Army. I received a commendation and a promotion even though the military knew that I was gay." "[O]ur service was not motivated by gain, not motivated by thoughts of profit. [W]e serve simply because we love the United States of America." "Today, more than ever, all these veterans that are here and all you veterans out there, understand what the meaning of service is. You did it once before. You stood with a gun in your hand and you choose to defend this country. We need you once again." Return
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to Top GAMBINO FAMILY MOBSTER AND KILLER LEWIS "STEVE THE BLOND" D'AVANZO (1948-1977) "D'Avanzo, a first cousin of [New York Mayor Rudolph (William Louis)] Giuliani's, was a mob associate who ran a large stolen-car ring and was killed by FBI agents in Brooklyn in 1977," CBS Television News. "D'Avanzo, a son of the mayor's uncle and a guest at [New York Mayor Rudolph] Giuliani's first wedding in 1968, was a 'ruthless and widely feared mob associate' who headed a massive stolen car ring, according to FBI documents and interviews ... by Village Voice senior editor Wayne Barrett. D'Avanzo was known as "Steve the Blond" and listed as armed and dangerous in FBI bulletins. His criminal record included a 10-year federal sentence for the armed hijacking of a truck loaded with $240,000 worth of mercury. The book alleges that he was suspected of taking part in several murders. D'Avanzo was gunned down by the FBI in October 1977, when he tried to run down an agent after being stopped on a warrant that accused him and two associates of transporting 100 stolen luxury cars," New York Daily News. Return
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to Top FILM "ROPE" CHARACTER "BRANDON SHAW" (1948) "Good and evil, right and wrong were invented for the ordinary average man, the inferior man, because he needs them." "Nobody commits murder just for the experience of committing it. Nobody except us." "Of course, he was a Harvard graduate. That might be grounds for justifiable homicide." "The good Americans usually die young on the battlefield, don't they? Well, the Davids of the world merely occupy space, which is why he was the perfect victim for the perfect crime." "The power to kill could be just as satisfying as the power to create." "We all do strange things in our childhood." "We killed for the sake of danger and for the sake of killing." Return
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to Top FILM "ROPE" CHARACTER "PHILLIP MORGAN" (1948) "Out of character for him to be murdered, too." Return
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to Top MUSICIAN DAVID (ROBERT JONES) "BOWIE" (1947-PRESENT) "Chris Burden ... was the subject of a song I wrote called "Joe the Lion" on Heroes. Once, he created a gun machine. He had a chair like this and a little rack in front with a .45 aimed there, right at the head of whoever was to sit in the chair. And there was a sign on it that said: 'This gun has a bullet in the chamber and it is timed to go off sometime between now and 100 years time.' And it was your choice to go and sit in the chair for a second or two, or going, like [sneaking into the chair, then dashing back out]. Hahahahahaha! Just to say that they did it. 'Cause you didn't know when it was gonna go off. It's very funny, isn't it?" Return
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to Top WRITER CAMILLE (ANNA) PAGLIA (1947-PRESENT) "American guns are the dark side of American genius. Our aggression overflows into violence but also empowers our brilliant entrepreneurship in technology as well as the vitality of our popular culture." "As a tomboy whose Amazonian craze was always for swords and spears, I've never felt the allure of guns, but I think I understand their hypnotic high-tech beauty -- their well-oiled intricacy; cool, smooth skin; and startlingly dense, compact heft, which gives the owner so exhilarating a sense of coiled power." "If one reads the Founders, one cannot escape the realization that this amendment, second only to the First, which it protects, was placed where it is precisely to allow the people to take back their government should it fall into the hands of some future Hitlerian despot." "It doesn't take a weatherman to figure out that the average citizen doesn't want national policy determined by packs of weeping women led by a shrill, dimwitted talk-show host (Hillary-sycophant Rosie O'Donnell)." "[I]t's not guns at home I fear: It's guns abroad, escalating into nuclear war. Whatever the mad bombers of NATO think they're winning in the Yugoslav fiasco, they've predictably destabilized world politics." "Last Sunday's Million Mom March, the gun-control protest organized (as the major media is finally admitting) by the sister-in-law of Hillary Clinton's longtime lawyer pal and hatchet woman, surly Susan Thomases, may not do the Democrats much good this year, when the electorate is in a mood, as during the humiliating 1979-81 Iran hostage crisis, to restore military credibility to the U.S." "Neither do crime statistics from other countries carry much weight with me. Only the U.S. has a complex Bill of Rights with a First Amendment guaranteeing 'freedom of speech' and a Second Amendment guaranteeing 'the right of the people to keep and bear arms,' which remain our protection against government tyranny. It's no coincidence that this most heavily armed nation in the world is also the most individualistic and entrepreneurial, with incandescent creativity in the high-tech field that has transformed the economy." "The establishments of the two major parties have gotten far too arrogant and complacent, and this is just the sort of thing that could shake them up." "[T]he lessons of Waco are that even a liberal Democratic administration is capable of fascist acts and that a reasonably armed citizenry is the only recourse against government tyranny. I don't own guns, but I feel more secure that others do." "The Northeastern major media, with their urban liberal animus against guns, have managed to completely censor out the subliminal sexual psychodrama in the bloody Columbine saga." "The problem with gun-control laws is that they only work on already law-abiding citizens. Although I don't own guns, I respect those who do. And I venerate the armed woman as a transcendent symbol of independent female power -- from ancient goddesses like the Venus Armata or the knife-wielding Hindu Kali to the pistol-packing babes of 'Charlie's Angels.'" "While guns aren't my thing, I would vigorously defend the Second Amendment right of mentally competent adults to own and collect weapons without harassment by the government. Multiplying gun laws isn't the answer, since law-abiding citizens are never the problem." Return
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to Top FILMMAKER JOHN WATERS (1946-PRESENT) "Even illegal weapons have lost their panache. Zip guns and shanks were, at least, homemade. Where is the craft in a grade-schooler firing a magnum? What is the world coming to? It's not even bad to be a Communist anymore!" Return
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to Top WRITER ANDREA DWORKIN (1946-2005) "A semi-automatic gun is one answer [to the problem of violence against women]." "Women need land and guns." Return
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to Top GAMBINO FAMILY MOBSTER AND KILLER SALVATORE "SAMMY THE BULL" GRAVANO (1945-PRESENT) "Gun control? It's the best thing you can do for crooks and gangsters. I want you to have nothing. If I'm a bad guy, I'm always gonna' have a gun. Safety locks? You pull a trigger with a lock on, and I'll pull the trigger. We'll see who wins." Return
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to Top U.S. COAST GUARD REAR ADM. ALAN M. STEINMAN M.D. (1945-PRESENT) "There are gays and lesbians serving honorably in every rank, from apprentice seaman to flag officer. There are gays in the special forces ... Green Berets and Navy SEALS. There are soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan who are out to their unit, and it doesn't impair their combat effectiveness. I'm not angry at the military, because I loved my time there." Return
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to Top MUSICIAN (PETER DENNIS BLANDFORD) "PETE" TOWNSHEND (1945-PRESENT) "As a young man, every bone in my body wanted to pick up a machine gun and kill Germans. And, yet, I had absolutely no reason to do so. Certainly, nobody invited me to do the job. But, that's what I felt that I was trained to do. Now, no part of my upbringing was militaristic." Return
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to Top BANK ROBBER JOHN "LITTLEJOHN BASSO" S. WOJTOWICZ (See: "SONNY WORTZIK") (1945-PRESENT) "Now, I can shoot you and they won't give me the gas chamber. But if I shoot a cop, I get it. Now, I wonder: if I put a gun at your head and another gun in your hand and made you shoot the cop, would you get it?" Return
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to Top IRAN-CONTRA FUND RAISER CARL (RUSSELL) R. "SPITZ" CHANNELL JR. (1945-1990) "[C]onservative fundraiser Carl (Spitz) Channell pleaded guilty to conspiring to cheat the government of taxes on more than $2 million raised to arm the Nicaraguan rebels -- with the aid, Channell said, of fired White House functionary Lt. Col. Oliver North," The Washington Post. "Lt. Col. Oliver L. North of the National Security Council staff worked principally with ... Carl R. 'Spitz' Channell ... to solicit donations through a tax-exempt foundation ... to buy weapons for the [Nicaraguan] contras. Channell pleaded guilty to a felony charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States," U.S. Independent Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh. Return
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to Top ACTOR (HARRIS GLENN MILSTEAD) "DIVINE" (1945-1988) [As film character Babs Johnson] "Kill everyone now! Condone first degree murder! Advocate cannibalism! Eat shit! Filth is my politics! Filth is my life!" [As film character Babs Johnson] "Oh my God, what a horrible photograph. My first wanted poster and I look just awful." Return
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to Top PROFESSOR ANGELA (YVONNE) DAVIS PH.D. (1944-PRESENT) "[Davis is] possibly armed and dangerous," FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. "[Davis] was reported to have purchased a 12-gauge single-barrel shotgun that was used to kill Superior Court Judge Harold J. Haley in a courthouse gun battle last Aug. 7. The charges against Miss Davis do not allege that she was at the scene of the kidnap-murders, in which the judge, the prosecutor and three women jurors were abducted by three prisoners in the courtroom and an accomplice. Miss Davis was charged under a California law that makes an accomplice equally guilty for having purchased the guns used. [F]riends were said to have been incredulous. The Angela Davis they knew, it was widely reported, was not someone who would have given guns to a 17-year old boy, as she was accused of having done, so that he could take hostages in a courtroom, and hold them for ransom. In the end, the jury found Miss Davis innocent of such involvement in its verdict yesterday. But Miss Davis never denied that she had purchased guns. This was not to be considered unusual, she said, adding: "For a black person who grew up in the South, guns were a normal fact of life," The New York Times. "In 1966, when the Black Panther Party was founded, they used guns and law books symbolically. The call was not for people to use arms against the police, but to stand up against police brutality and to stand up to police violation of rights of the community." Return
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to Top U.S. AIR FORCE SGT. LEONARD P. MATLOVICH JR. (1943-1988) "When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one." Return
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to Top U.S. REP. (JAMES THOMAS) "JIM" KOLBE, R-ARIZ. (1942-PRESENT) "I have seen little evidence that demonstrates the effectiveness of gun-control measures." Return
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to Top PRESIDENT FORD LIFESAVER AND U.S. MARINE CORPS PFC. OLIVER "BILLY" SIPPLE (1941-1989) "I want you to know how much I appreciated your selfless actions last Monday. The events were a shock to us all, but you acted quickly and without fear for your own safety. By doing so, you helped to avert danger to me and to others in the crowd. You have my heartfelt appreciation," President Ford. "My sexual orientation has nothing at all to do with saving the President's life, just as the color of my eyes or my race has nothing to do with what happened in front of the St. Francis Hotel." Return
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to Top U.S. REP. BARNEY FRANK, D-MASS. (1940-PRESENT) "At the presidential level, the more fervently [that] Democrats advocate gun control, the more we hurt ourselves with swing votes, especially in the Western states. And, by trying to make anti-gun laws serve as our example of how to be tough on crime, we end up losing ground on both issues." "[F]or some swing voters, when liberals point to tougher restrictions on guns as a main part of our anti-crime package, we are simply adding to the injury of taking away their guns the insult of calling them criminals while we do it." "Gun control -- another liberal response to crime -- isn't the right answer. In 1994, it hurt the Democrats. [L]iberals have to be more sensitive than they have been to regional differences on gun restrictions." "[P]resented as a substitute for harsher prison sentences or more prosecutorial freedom for law-enforcement agencies, gun control will lose support among swing votes and will not help liberals to improve their image as crime fighters." "[T]he political costs of gun control are also higher. There are a large number of people who care fiercely about what they believe to be their right to own guns without restrictions as long as they use them lawfully. These people will cast their votes primarily according to a candidate's position on gun control; they vote this way because of their commitment to the issue, not because of some clever manipulation by the National Rifle Association." "The power of these voters is what makes even moderate gun-control measures so difficult to pass. It was resentment of Sen. Kennedy's position on gun control that led large numbers of union members in Iowa and Maine to oppose him in the presidential caucuses of 1980 despite his leadership on virtually every other issue that mattered to them. The total focus on the issue of unrestricted gun ownership leads many voters to support Republicans for president despite pro-Democratic sentiments on economic and environmental issues. In many Western states, for instance, it is the strength of these voters that leads many liberal Democrats to vote against gun control, not some need for PAC money from the NRA." "There are in this country a significant number of voters ... who enjoy owning and using guns for hunting, target shooting and other wholly legitimate purposes." "[W]hen liberals insist on using gun control as a litmus test, they punish progressives in the Mountain states without in any way advancing the cause of gun control. The choice in most Western states is not between liberals who favor gun control and liberals who oppose it; it is between a liberal who opposes gun control and a conservative." Return
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to Top MUSICIAN JOHN (WINSTON) LENNON (1940-1980) [Lyrics] "Mother Superior jump the gun; Happiness is a warm gun; When I hold you in my arms, And I feel my finger on your trigger, I know no-one can do me no harm because: Happiness is a warm, yes it is, gun!" Return
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to Top ACTOR SIR IAN (MURRAY) MCKELLEN (1939-PRESENT) "I regret, though, that I didn't get to wear a Stetson, tote a gun nor ride a horse but then this is one of the few Westerns to aim for historical accuracy and not everyone behaved like a movie cowboy in 'them thar' days." Return
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to Top U.S. REP. ROBERT BAUMAN, R-MD. (1937-PRESENT) "There is nothing conservative about attempting to reestablish in America the police tactics of King George III. Those tactics are the reason the Fourth Amendment exists, and the reason it needs to be preserved." Return
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to Top U.S. ARMY BRIG. GEN. VIRGIL A. RICHARD (1937-PRESENT) "I can't knock the Army. It was very good to me, and I'm proud of my career. I think I handled it with honor. The medals in the case [including the Distinguished Service medal, the Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit] are proof of that. I'm happy with what I've done, and I'm happy with who I am." Return
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to Top WRITER LARRY KRAMER (1935-PRESENT) "If you do not fight back, you will be murdered in ways just as hideous as the ways in which we got murdered." "[Kramer] began the meeting with a soft-spoken announcement that he wanted to set up a group to do target practice, to learn how to use guns against the police and gay-bashers. His point in the demo debate was to back the radicals. He mentioned last year's demo that broke up a mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, and provoked a storm of hostility: "We couldn't have gotten worse publicity than the Church action, and that put us on the map. ... Don't use the backlash argument as an excuse. They're not going to like us. They hate us anyway,'" Andrew Sullivan. [Did you take gun training?] "No, but I would have. My best friend is Rodger McFarlane, who had been a Navy Seal -- the equivalent of a Green Beret -- and he'd had training in a lot of that stuff. And we used to fantasize about if the two of us could somehow just go and knock off people around the country." Return
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to Top BONANNO FAMILY MOBSTER AND KILLER JOSEPH "'UNCLE JOE' MONACO" (FRANCIS) SCUDIERO (1935-PRESENT) "[It's (a revolver with a silencer) my] hit gun." Return
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to Top WRITER AUDRE (GERALDINE) LORDE (1934-1992) "Our deepest bonds remain the mirror and the gun." "When I dare to be powerful -- to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid." Return
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to Top U.S. ARMY BRIG. GEN. KEITH H. KERR (1932-PRESENT) "The Army made me a much better person. It gave me education, training, contact and the ability to serve with wonderfully talented officers and learn from them. So, I'm so proud of my Army service and what the Army has done for me, and that opportunity ought to be available to all Americans." Return
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to Top MOB-BOSS WIFE ANNA (PETILLO VERNOTICO) GENOVESE (BEF.1932-AFT.1954) "During the early 1930s, Genovese took over New York's massive Italian lottery, and grew rich from it, using his wealth to buy into gay bars [including the Stonewall Inn] in the Greenwich Village area, which struck police as an odd choice of investments until 1954 when they learned from a cashier at one of the clubs that Genovese's wife, Anna Petillo Vernotico, who was also his distant cousin, was a regular at these clubs and for many years, was involved in a lesbian relationship which Genovese knew of, and approved," writer John William Tuohy. Return
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to Top DECAVALCANTE FAMILY MOBSTER AND KILLER JOHN "JOHNNY BOY" D'AMATO (CIRCA 1931-1992) "[A] gun and a knife on the table ... [are] tools, just like a carpenter has a hammer and screwdriver. When called upon, these tools must be used." Return to Index - Return to Top ACTOR (ARTHUR ANDREW KELM GELIEN) "TAB HUNTER" (1931-PRESENT) "The key to portraying this uptight psycho wasn't in the ferocious riding or the quick-draw gunslinging (which I practiced diligently), but in [his] wardrobe." Return to Index - Return to Top ACTOR JAMES (BYRON) DEAN (1931-1955) "A fellow must have confidence." "An actual right is something that governments need merely to secure, not to implement." Return
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to Top U.S. SENATE STAFF CONSULTANT (GERARD) G. DAVID SCHINE (1927-1996) "Do you honestly believe in the overthrow by force and violence of the United States government?" "[D]o you think that our committee is representing the best interests of the American people if we seek to expose members of a conspiracy to overthrow our government by force and violence?" Return
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to Top U.S. SENATE STAFF COUNSEL ROY (MARCUS) M. COHN (See: "ROY MARCUS COHN") (1927-1986) "Do you know how to shoot a gun?" "Go after a man's weakness, and never, ever, threaten unless you're going to follow through, because if you don't, the next time you won't be taken seriously." "I bring out the worst in my enemies and that's how I get them to defeat themselves." "I don't write polite letters. I don't like to plea-bargain. I like to fight." "Is that the company that makes machine guns?" "My scare value is high. My arena is controversy. My tough front is my biggest asset." Return
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to Top U.S. NAVY LT. AND CIA INFORMANT (THOMAS ANTHONY) "TOM" DOOLEY III M.D. (1927-1961) "The Communists are not fighting in my Village though they are only 60 miles away. The Provinces of Thong Saly and a little south of it the Province called Fam Neua. These are the areas where the fighting is taking place, so the fighting is not very severe." Return
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to Top WRITER JAMES (ARTHUR) BALDWIN (1924-1987) "He may be a very nice man. But, I haven't got the time to figure that out. All I know is, he's got a uniform and a gun, and I have to relate to him that way. That's the only way to relate to him because one of us may have to die." Return
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to Top WRITER AND ACTOR TRUMAN (STRECKFUS PERSONS) "CAPOTE" (1924-1984) "Well, I'm about as tall as a shotgun, and just as noisy." Return
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to Top WRITER BRENDAN (FRANCIS) BEHAN (1923-1964) "When I came back to Dublin, I was courtmartialed in my absence and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me in my absence." Return
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to Top PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON CHIEF OF STAFF WALTER (WILSON) JENKINS (1918-1985) "[Jenkins] never compromised national security," FBI "Report on Walter Wilson Jenkins." "[Jenkins] told me [that] Governor Connally, Cliff Carter and all the Johnson men were counselling against the Dallas motorcade," President Johnson assistant Horace W. Busby. "[Jenkins] was terribly agitated, terribly! We decided what he needed was a doctor more than anything so, during the course of the day, we got a doctor for him, and the doctor, seeing the condition he was in, put him in the hospital," President Johnson adviser Clark (McAdams) M. Clifford. "[T]he doctor is going to say that [Jenkins has] been telling him he was going to kill himself and that [he] thought that the top of his head was going to blow off," President Johnson attorney Abraham "Abe" Fortas. "[While threatening to 'shoot' himself, Jenkins said that he was] 'destroying President Johnson,'" President Johnson attorney Abraham "Abe" Fortas. Return
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to Top PRESIDENT KENNEDY ASSASSINATION SUSPECT DAVID (WILLIAM) FERRIE (See: DAVID FERRIE) (1918-1967) "FERRIE stated he has never owned a telescopic sight, a rifle equipped with a telescopic sight, has never used a weapon equipped with a telescopic sight and does not know how to use one. He also said he never instructed LEE HARVEY OSWALD or anyone else in the use of American made or foreign made rifles or firearms. FERRIE said that while in the Civil Air Patrol he assisted in firearms instruction at Civil Air Patrol Bivouacs for range safety only," FBI "Interview of David Ferrie." "He [U.S. President Kennedy] ought to be shot." "Well, [who assassinated President Kennedy is] an interesting question and I've got my own thoughts on it." Return
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to Top WRITER WILLIAM (SEWARD) S. BURROUGHS (1914-1997) "After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. I sure as Hell wouldn't want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military." Return
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to Top PRESIDENT KENNEDY ASSASSINATION DEFENDANT CLAY (LAVERNE) SHAW (1913-1974) "I think that it was just Lee Oswald -- a poor, psychotic loser -- who got a lucky shot at the president. People find it difficult to believe that the great golden prince should be killed by this psychotic little man, crouching behind paste-board boxes, with a cheap mail-order rifle, but the fact that it is inappropriate doesn't mean that it didn't happen. Life is full of inappropriate things, and I believe that I am a well-qualified person to make that statement. I speak from first-hand experience." "Perry Russo ... attended a party at David Ferrie's apartment in 1963 where he claimed to have heard me, Ferrie and Lee Oswald plot to kill John F. Kennedy." Return
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to Top CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER BAYARD RUSTIN (1912-1987) "In some quarters, black power connotes ... a repudiation of nonviolence in favor of Negro 'self-defense.'" "It is, in short, the growing conviction that the Negroes cannot win -- a conviction with much grounding in experience -- which accounts for the new popularity of black power." "Proponents of nonviolence do not, for example, deny that James Meredith has the right to carry a gun for protection when he visits his mother in Mississippi." "The reasoning here is that ... only if the Negro succeeds in frightening the white man will the white man begin taking him more seriously." "The Vietnam war is also partly responsible for the growing disillusion with nonviolence among Negroes." "[The Negro] does, however, wonder why he is exhorted to nonviolence when the United States has been waging a fantastically brutal war, and it puzzles him to be told that he must turn the other cheek in our own South while we fight for freedom in South Vietnam." "[M]any Negroes take [the slogan 'black power'] as a warning to white people that Negroes will no longer tolerate brutality and violence." "[N]o one has ever argued that Negroes as individuals should not defend themselves from attack." Return
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to Top MATHEMATICIAN ALAN (MATHISON) TURING (1912-1954) "Machines take me by surprise with great frequency." "The machine would be unmasked because of its deadly accuracy." "We may hope that machines will eventually compete with men in all purely intellectual fields." Return
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to Top WRITER (THOMAS LANIER) "TENNESSEE" WILLIAMS (1911-1983) [As book character Tom Wingfield] "I'm a hired assassin; I carry a tommy gun in a violin case! They call me Killer, Killer Wingfield; I'm leading a double-life, a simple, honest warehouse worker by day, by night a dynamic czar of the underworld." Return
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to Top COMMUNIST SPY GUY (FRANCIS DE MONCY) BURGESS (1911-1963) "[Burgess is] 'a loud, foul-mouthed queer with a penchant for seducing hitchhikers,'" FBI "Report on Guy Francis De Moncy Burgess." "I dined with Guy Burgess. Oh my dear, what a sad, sad thing this constant drinking is! Guy used to have one of the most rapid and acute minds I knew. Now, his is just an imitation (and a pretty bad one) of what he once was. Not that he was actually drunk yesterday, he was just soaked and silly. I felt angry about it," diplomat Harold Nicolson. "Oh, you mean I shouldn't make a pass at Paul Robeson?" Return
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to Top GRANDFATHER OF A GAY MAN AND U.S. SEN. BARRY (MORRIS) M. GOLDWATER, R-ARIZ. (1909-1998) "You don't need to be 'straight' to fight for your country. You just need to shoot straight." Return
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to Top ACTOR ERROL (LESLIE THOMPSON) FLYNN (1909-1959) [As film character Sir Robin of Locksley] "It's injustice I hate not the Normans." Return
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to Top WRITER, ACTOR AND MODEL (DENIS CHARLES PRATT) "QUENTIN CRISP" (1908-1999) "You should never subjugate yourself to another nor seek the subjugation of someone else to yourself. If you follow that Crispian principle, you will be able to say 'Phooey,' too, instead of reaching for your gun when you fancy yourself betrayed." Return
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to Top U.S. SEN. JOSEPH (RAYMOND) R. MCCARTHY, R-WIS. (1908-1957) "Any guns?" "Did you carry a gun?" "If you want to be against McCarthy, boys, you've got to be either a Communist or a cocksucker." "So, from his conferences with you, Blumenthal would have almost a perfect picture of how our production of ammunition and weapons was progressing." "[I]f we knew how Russia's tank production is progressing, if we knew their production of ammunition and rifles, that would be of great benefit to us, would it not?" "[Y]ou gave him production figures on our weapons?" "You never discussed with Communists any of the weapons or any of the defense weapons of our military?" Return
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to Top ACTRESS (RUBY KATHERINE STEVENS) "BARBARA STANWYCK" (1907-1990) [As film character Thelma Jordon] "I'd like to say I didn't intend to kill her, but when you have a gun ... you always intend ... when you have to." Return
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to Top WRITER (WYSTAN HUGH) W.H. AUDEN (1907-1973) "If time were the wicked sheriff in a horse opera, I'd pay for riding lessons and take his gun away." Return
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to Top "LEOPOLD AND LOEB" KILLER RICHARD (ALBERT) "DICKIE" LOEB (1905-1936) "[T]he plan was broached by Nathan Leopold who suggested [it] as a means of having a great deal of excitement together with getting quite a sum of money." Return
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to Top ACTOR (ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER LEACH) "CARY GRANT" (1904-1986) [As film character Capt. Anthony Trumbull] "It's not enough to say that a gun doesn't belong inside of their cathedral. This isn't merely a gun. It's the only symbol of resistance left in Spain. Do you know how many of them have given their lives just to push and pull and drag it this far? You mustn't refuse them." [As film character Peter Joshua] "So you think I'M the murderer? What do I have to do to convince you that I'm not, be the next victim?" Return
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to Top "LEOPOLD AND LOEB" KILLER NATHAN (FREUDENTHAL) F. "BABE" LEOPOLD JR. (1904-1971) "All I could do was clasp his hand and tell him I was sorry. There wasn't much else to say." "[W]e started on the process of how to get the money which was the most difficult problem." Return
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to Top ACTOR (FRANK JAMES) "GARY" COOPER (1901-1961) [As film character Alvin C. York] "[F]olks back home used to say I could shoot a rifle before I was weaned, but they was exaggeratin' some." Return
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to Top U.S. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF THE FBI CLYDE A. TOLSON (1900-1975) "I hope that someone shoots and kills the son of a bitch [U.S. Sen. Robert (Fitgerald) F. Kennedy]." Return
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to Top WRITER SIR NOEL (PEIRCE) COWARD (1899-1973) "Each man and woman is dedicated to doing what they must to make it through the war. The one exception is a sailor who runs away from his gun during a battle; he is haunted by his cowardice." Return
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to Top U.S. DIRECTOR OF THE FBI (JOHN) J. EDGAR HOOVER (1895-1972) "Just the minute the FBI begins making recommendations on what should be done with its information, it becomes a Gestapo." "Justice is incidental to law and order." "No amount of law enforcement can solve a problem that goes back to the family." "Numerous facets and ramifications of gun control are so varied and complex that regulatory measures must be at state and local levels. It is only at these levels that effective enforcement efforts can be undertaken. Many communities already have local ordinances which protect the rights of society without infringing on the rights of individuals who purchase guns for protection or legitimate recreation and pleasure." "The cure for crime is not the electric chair, but the high chair." Return
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to Top ACTRESS (MARY JANE) "MAE" WEST (1893-1980) "Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" Return
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to Top MUSICIAN COLE PORTER (1891-1946) [Lyrics] "And, from under her velvet gown, She drew a gun and shot her lover down." Return
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to Top U.K. LT. COL. (THOMAS EDWARD) T.E. LAWRENCE "OF ARABIA" (1888-1935) "As I spoke, I covered him with a pistol hidden under my cloak." "As I watched, our machine-guns chattered out over my head, and the long rows of Turks on the carriage roofs rolled over, and were swept off the top like bales of cotton before the furious shower of bullets which stormed along the roofs and splashed clouds of yellow chips from the planking." "Give me a battery of Schneider mountain guns, and machine-guns, and I will finish this off for you." "He glanced wildly at me and at the pistol in my hand, and then with sadness at his rifle against the abutment, yards beyond." "I knelt down beside HIM, holding my pistol near the ground by his head, so that he should not see my purpose; but he must have guessed it, for he opened his eyes, and clutched me with his harsh, scaly hand, the tiny hand of these unripe Nejd fellows." "In manoeuvre war one long-range gun outweighed ninety-nine short." "It seemed to me that their moral confidence was to be restored only by having guns, useful or useless, but noisy, on their side." "Then we sat in a group with our rifles (mine Enver's gold-inscribed Lee-Enfield trophy from the Dardanelles, given by him to Feisal years ago) waiting till our men should be beyond the danger zone." "To the front on each flank were my bodyguards in their brilliant clothes, lying spread out between the grey tufts of weed, with their rifles lovingly against their cheeks." "Two hundred rifles, eighty thousand rounds of ammunition, many bombs, much food and clothing were in the station, and everybody smashed and profited." "When there was reason and desire to punish we wrote our lesson with gun or whip immediately in the sullen flesh of the sufferer, and the case was beyond appeal." Return
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to Top U.K. FIELD MARSHAL GEN. SIR BERNARD LAW "MONTY" MONTGOMERY (1887-1976) "Discipline strengthens the mind so that it becomes impervious to the corroding influence of fear." Return
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to Top GERMANY NAZI STURMABTEILUNG (SA) CHIEF OF STAFF CAPT. ERNST ROHM (1887-1934) "Brutality is respected. The people need wholesome fear. They want to fear something. They want something to frighten them and make them shudderingly submissive. Haven't you seen everywhere that, after the beerhall battles, those who have been beaten are the first to join the party as new members? Why babble about brutality and get indignant about tortures? The masses want them. They need something that will give them a thrill of horror." "If I am to be killed, let Adolf do it himself." "The SA is, and remains, Germany's destiny." Return
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to Top WRITER (EDWARD MORGAN) E.M. FORSTER (1879-1970) "Why does the soul always require a machine gun?" Return
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to Top WRITER (EDWARD ALEXANDER) "ALEISTER" CROWLEY (1875-1947) "In the afternoon we went off bathing together in a delightful pool directly under the hill on which the bungalow was situated. I took down the shot gun with the intention of killing a big paddy bird which we saw from the bank. These birds are valuable on account of the aigrette. I fired, but my shot did not seem to hurt him, and he flew off. I resigned the gun to the Burmese boy, and had just finished my bath when the impudent beast came back. I hastily signaled for the gun; and putting on a topee and a towel round my waist proceeded to stalk him across the ford. I must have presented the most ridiculous spectacle." Return
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to Top ANARCHIST EMMA GOLDMAN (1869-1940) "Is there only the resistance which means the gun, the bayonet, the bomb or flying machine?" Return
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to Top BOY SCOUTS FOUNDER LORD ROBERT (STEVENSON SMYTH) BADEN-POWELL (1857-1941) "Make yourselves good scouts and good rifle shots in order to protect the women and children of your country if it should ever become necessary." "Shooting at a fixed target is only a step towards shooting at a moving one like a man." Return
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to Top WRITER OSCAR (FINGEL O'FLARHERTIE WILLS) WILDE (1854-1900) "I don't know what the Queensbury rules are, but the Oscar Wilde rule is to shoot on sight." "They afterwards took me to a dancing saloon where I saw the only rational method of art criticism I have ever come across. Over the piano was printed a notice, 'Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best.'" Return
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to Top U.K. MAJ. GEN. SIR HECTOR ARCHIBALD MACDONALD (1853-1903) "You have your rifles. Why not use them?" Return
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to Top U.K. GEN. LORD HORATIO HERBERT KITCHENER (1850-1916) "Do your duty bravely." Return
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to Top WRITER ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE (1837-1909) "Where might is, the right is: Long purses make strong swords. Let weakness learn meekness: God save the House of Lords!" Return
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to Top WRITER AUGUSTUS (JOHN CUTHBERT) HARE (1834-1903) [About writer Oscar Wilde] "Mrs M.L. had recently met this type of an aesthetic age staying at a country house and described him going out shooting in a black velvet suit with salmon-coloured stockings and falling down when his gun went off, yet captivating all the ladies by his pleasant talk." Return
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to Top SUFFRAGIST SUSAN (BROWNELL) B. ANTHONY (1820-1906) "I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand." Return
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to Top WRITER (WALTER) "WALT" WHITMAN (1819-1892) "Falling asleep on the gather'd leaves with my dog and gun by my side." "He was a frequent gunner and fisher, he sail'd his boat himself, he had a fine one presented to him by a ship-joiner, he had fowling-pieces presented to him by men that loved him." "Myself and mine gymnastic ever, To stand the cold or heat -- to take good aim with a gun." "They know how to swim, row, ride, wrestle, shoot, run, strike, retreat, advance, resist, defend themselves." Return
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to Top WRITER HERMAN (MELVILL) MELVILLE (1819-1891) "Foemen at morn, but friends at eve -- Fame or country least their care: (What like a bullet can undeceive!)." Return
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to Top WRITER HENRY DAVID THOREAU (1817-1862) "He carried no change of clothing, but putting on a stout, thick jacket, which he laid aside in the canoe, and seizing a full-sized axe, his gun and ammunition, and a blanket, which would do for a sail or knapsack, if wanted, and strapping on his belt, which contained a large sheath-knife, he walked off at once, ready to be gone all summer." "I was surprised to find, on talking with him in the course of the day's journey, that he was a hunter at all, -- for his gun was not much exposed." "I went as reporter or chaplain to the hunters, -- and the chaplain has been known to carry a gun himself." "They work ever with a gun as well as an axe, let their beards grow, and live without neighbors, not on an open plain, but far within a wilderness." "We cannot but pity the boy who has never fired a gun; he is no more humane, while his education has been sadly neglected." Return
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to Top WRITER LORD ALFRED TENNYSON (1809-1892) "All armed I ride, whate'er betide, Until I find the holy Grail." "Riflemen, riflemen, riflemen form!" Return
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to Top U.S. PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN, R-ILL. (1809-1865) "At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?" "There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law." "This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their 'constitutional' right of amending it or their 'revolutionary' right to dismember or overthrow it." Return
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to Top WRITER RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803-1882) "The crowning fortune of a man is to be born to some pursuit which finds him employment and happiness, whether it be to make baskets, or broadswords, or canals, or statues, or songs." "What cannot stand must fall; and the measure of our sincerity and therefore of the respect of men, is the amount of health and wealth we will hazard in the defence of our right. An old farmer, my neighbor across the fence, when I ask him if he is not going to town-meeting, says: 'No, 't is no use balloting, for it will not stay; but what you do with the gun will stay so.'" Return
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to Top THEOLOGIAN JOHN HENRY CARDINAL NEWMAN (1801-1890) "Ability hits the mark where presumption overshoots and diffidence falls short." Return
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to Top THEOLOGIAN THOMAS CARLYLE (1795-1881) "The three great elements of modern civilization: Gunpowder, printing and the Protestant religion." Return
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to Top U.S. PRESIDENT JAMES BUCHANAN, D-PA. (1791-1868) "Liberty must be allowed to work out its natural results; and these will, ere long, astonish the world." "There is nothing stable but Heaven and the Constitution." "What is right and what is practicable are two different things." Return
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to Top U.S. VICE PRESIDENT WILLIAM (RUFUS DEVANE) R. KING, D-ALA. (1786-1853) [An insult by Dallas County, Ala., planter Michael Kenan which provoked King to draw a dagger from his cane and pass it across Kenan's chest was] "an affair of honor." "Mr. President, I have no reply to make -- none whatever, but Mr. Clay deserves a response" [of a challenge to a duel]. [Southern men should] "[H]url defiance ... and unitedly determine to defend their rights at every hazard and every sacrifice." Return
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to Top REVOLUTIONARY MARQUIS (MARIE JOSEPH PAUL YVES ROCH GILBERT DU MOTIER) DE LA FAYETTE (LAFAYETTE) (1757-1834) "When the government violates the people's rights, insurrection is, for the people and for each portion of the people, the most sacred of the rights and the most indispensable of duties." Return
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to Top U.S. SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Fed.-N.Y. (1755-1804) "[B]ut if circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude, that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people, while there is a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in discipline and use of arms, who stand ready to defend their rights." "[F]or it is a truth, which the experience of all ages has attested, that the people are commonly most in danger when the means of insuring their rights are in the possession of those of whom they entertain the least suspicion." "[I feel] the deepest affliction at the news [of John Laurens' death]. I feel the loss of a friend I truly and most tenderly loved." "I wish, my dear [John] Laurens, it might be in my power by actions rather than words to convince you that I love you. You should not have taken advantage of my sensibility to steal into my affections without my consent. You will always continue to merit the partiality which you have so artfully instilled into me. [L]ike a jealous lover, when I thought you slighted my caresses, my affection was alarmed and my vanity piqued. We have fought side by side to make America free, let us hand in hand struggle to make her happy. Yours forever." "If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no resource left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defence. The citizens must rush tumultuously to arms, without concert, without system, without resource; except in their courage and despair." "Little more can reasonably be aimed at with respect to the people at large than to have them properly armed and equipped." Return
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to Top U.S. ARMY LT. COL. JOHN LAURENS (1754-1782) "Col. [John] Laurens was a young man of great merit and a brave soldier, but an imprudent officer; he was too rash and impetuous," U.S. Army Gen. William Moultrie. "[I feel] the deepest affliction at the news [of John Laurens' death]. I feel the loss of a friend I truly and most tenderly loved," U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. "I wish, my dear [John] Laurens, it might be in my power by actions rather than words to convince you that I love you. You should not have taken advantage of my sensibility to steal into my affections without my consent. You will always continue to merit the partiality which you have so artfully instilled into me. [L]ike a jealous lover, when I thought you slighted my caresses, my affection was alarmed and my vanity piqued. We have fought side by side to make America free, let us hand in hand struggle to make her happy. Yours forever," U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. "It was not his fault that he was not killed or wounded ... he did every thing that was necessary to procure one or the other," revolutionary (Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier) Marquis de La Fayette (Lafayette). "The precise position is not as yet fixed upon in which our huts are to be constructed; it will probably be determined today; it must be in such a situation as to admit of a bridge of communication over the Schuylkill for the protection of the country we have just left." "[T]he want of provisions render'd it impossible to march until the evening of that day." Return
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to Top U.S. INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE ARMY MAJ. GEN. BARON (FRIEDRICH WILHELM LUDOLF GERHARD AUGUSTIN) VON STEUBEN (1730-1794) "Victory in many battles went to the side who could fire and reload their guns the fastest." Return
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to Top KING OF PRUSSIA FRIEDRICH (WILHELM) II "THE GREAT" (1712-1786) "By push of bayonets, no firing until you see the whites in their eyes!" Return
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to Top WRITER SAMUEL BUTLER (1612-1680) "Logic is like the sword -- those who appeal to it shall perish by it." "The worst of rebels never arm to do their king or country harm, but draw their swords to do them good, as doctors cure by letting blood." Return
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to Top WRITER JOHN MILTON (1608-1674) [From the poem "Samson Agonistes"] "And, weaponless himself, Made arms ridiculous." Return
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to Top WRITER WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616) [From the play "Titus Andronicus"] "Defend the justice of my cause with arms." [From the play "The Second Part of King Henry the Sixth"] "[G]ird thee with the sword." [From the play "The First Part of King Henry the Sixth"] "His brandish'd sword did blind men with his beams." [From the play "King Lear"] "I advise you to the best; go armed." [From the play "Julius Caesar"] "I am arm'd, And dangers are to me indifferent." [From the play "The First Part of King Henry the Fourth"] "I saw young Harry, with his beaver on, His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly arm'd." [From the play "The Third Part of King Henry the Sixth"] "[L]earn this lesson, draw thy sword in right." [From the play "The Second Part of King Henry the Sixth"] "Let me be blessed for the peace I make, Against this proud protector, with my sword!" [From the play "The Second Part of King Henry the Sixth"] "Let this my sword report what speech forbears." [From the play "The First Part of King Henry the Sixth"] "O, turn thy edged sword another way; Strike those that hurt, and hurt not those that help." [From the play "Coriolanus"] "[S]how thy valour, and put up your sword." [From the play "The First Part of King Henry the Sixth"] "[T]ake up arms like gentlemen." [From the play "The Second Part of King Henry the Sixth"] "Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just." [From the play "The Rape of Lucrece"] "To chase injustice with revengeful arms." [From the play "The Life and Death of King John"] "[W]ell won is still well shot." [From the play "The Tragedy of King Richard the Second"] "What my tongue speaks my right drawn sword may prove." [From the play "The Merry Wives of Windsor"] "Why, then the world's mine oyster. Which I with sword will open." Return
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to Top WRITER CHRISTOPHER "KIT" MARLOWE (1564-1593) [From the play "The First Part of Tamburlaine the Great"] "By this my sword that conquer'd Persia, Thy fall shall make me famous through the world!" [From the play "The First Part of Tamburlaine the Great"] "Come, kings and bassoes, let us glut our swords." [From the play "The First Part of Tamburlaine the Great"] "I long to see those crowns won by our swords." [From the play "Lust's Dominion"] "I'm armed with more than complete steel, -- The justice of my quarrel." [From the play "Doctor Faustus"] "Mine be that honor then. Now, sword, strike home, For horns he gave, I'll have his head anon." [From the play "The First Part of Tamburlaine the Great"] "Not one should scape, but perish by our swords." [From the play "The Second Part of Tamburlaine the Great"] "Now, brother, follow we our father's sword, That flies with fury swifter than our thoughts, And cuts down armies with his conquering wings." [From the play "The First Part of Tamburlaine the Great"] "Our conquering swords shall marshal us the way We use to march upon the slaughter'd foe." [From the play "The First Part of Tamburlaine the Great"] "So shall our swords, our lances, and our shot Fill all the air with fiery meteors." Return
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to Top WRITER SIR FRANCIS BACON (1561-1626) [From the book "The Proficience and Advancement of Learning"] "And, as for the disgraces which learning receiveth from politiques, they be of this nature; that learning doth soften men's minds, and makes them more unapt for the honour and exercise of arms." [From the book "The Proficience and Advancement of Learning"] "But, these and the like imputations have rather a countenance of gravity than any ground of justice: for experience doth warrant, that both in persons and in times, there hath been a meeting and concurrence in learning and arms, flourishing and excelling in the same men and the same ages.... For both in Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Graecia and Rome, the same times that are most renowned for arms, are likewise most admired for learning, so that the greatest authors and philosophers, and the greatest captains and governors have lived in the same ages." Return
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to Top WRITER EARL OF OXFORD XVII EDWARD DE VERE (1550-1604) [From the poem "The Spanish Tragedy"] "And, with that sword he fiercely waged war." Return
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to Top WRITER NICCOLO (DI BERNADI DI) MACHIAVELLI (1469-1527) [From the book "The Prince"] "And, experience has shown princes and republics, single-handed, making the greatest progress, and mercenaries doing nothing except damage; and it is more difficult to bring a republic, armed with its own arms, under the sway of one of its citizens than it is to bring one armed with foreign arms. Rome and Sparta stood for many ages armed and free. The Switzers are completely armed and quite free." [From the book "The Prince"] "For among other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised, and this is one of those ignominies against which a prince ought to guard himself, as is shown later on. Because there is nothing proportionate between the armed and the unarmed; and it is not reasonable that he who is armed should yield obedience willingly to him who is unarmed, or that the unarmed man should be secure among armed servants." [From the book "The Prince"] "Hence it is that all armed prophets have conquered, and the unarmed ones have been destroyed." [From the book "The Prince"] "The main foundations of every state, new states as well as ancient or composite ones, are good laws and good arms ... you cannot have good laws without good arms, and where there are good arms, good laws inevitably follow." [From the book "The Prince"] "There never was a new prince who has disarmed his subjects; rather when he has found them disarmed he has always armed them, because, by arming them, those arms be |