With all of the arguments for more stringent gun control, the following quotations from two great Americans bear repeating:

“No free man shall ever be disbarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” — Thomas Jefferson.

“One of the ordinary modes, by which tyrants accomplish their purpose without resistance, is, by disarming the people and making it an offense to keep arms.” — Joseph Story, constitutional scholar and Supreme Court justice (1811-1845).

These words of wisdom are just as appropriate today as they were 200 years ago.

Ward W. Fetrow Jr.

Tamassee