Quotes

"No criminal ... with the intent or predisposition to commit a violent crime is going to be deterred by a local ordinance under which he could be fined a few hundred dollars for possessing the dangerous weapon he intends to use to commit the violent crime ... If the prospect of spending much of his life in prison does not deter this particular individual, then why in the world would the threat of a minor monetary fine deter him?" -Governor Allen, State of Virginia

"One tenet of the National Rifle Association's faith has always been that handgun controls do little to stop criminals from obtaining handguns. For once, the NRA is right and America's leading handgun control organization [Sarah Brady's Handgun Control, Inc.] is wrong. Criminals don't buy handguns in gun stores. That's why they are criminals." -Josh Sugarmann, Communications Director for the National Coalition to Ban Handguns

"If one looks on the (gun-control) debate as being only about crime and the equipment with which it is committed, one misses the entire point; the "debate" over guns is fundamentally a cultural and political debate." - James D. Wright, Department of Sociology at Tulane University

"Cultural conditions, not gun laws, are the most important factors in a nation's crime rate. Young adults in Washington D.C. are subject to strict gun control, but no social control, and they commit a staggering amount of crime. Young adults in Zurich are subject to minimal gun control, but strict social control, and they commit almost no violent crime." - David B. Kopel, NYC District Atty. & Policy Analyst at Cato Institute

"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity." - Sigmund Freud

"The weapons-violence hypothesis is far too simplistic a basis on which to base sound public policy." - Daniel D. Polsby, Professor of Law at Northwestern University

"Gun controls would not work in America ... legal controls ought to support, not replace, self-control." - Thomas S. Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry at SUNY Science Center