“False is the idea of utility that sacrifices a thousand real advantages for one imaginary or trifling inconvenience; that would take fire from men because it burns, and water because one may drown in it; that has no remedy for evils, except destruction. The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes….Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.” (Thomas Jefferson)<\/p>\n
This was not<\/strong> a quote by Jefferson as many on the net have asserted.\u00a0 He\u00a0 compiled a book of quotes called, “Legal Commonplace Book.”\u00a0 The quote is actually from Cesare Beccaria’s Essay on Crimes and Punishments.\u00a0 The only notation made by Jefferson on Beccaria’s quote is, “False idee di utilit\u00e0.” or …false idea of utility.\u00a0 It should not be attributed to Thomas Jefferson unless one’s philosophy allows for the sophistry of ‘false ideas’.<\/p>\n See this reference:<\/p>\n