Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.

Most Americans think there’s already universal background checks. They don’t understand why there wouldn’t be a background check to purchase a weapon.

The Second Amendment is just as important as all the other Amendments.

Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous.

It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war; but if it shall actually take place, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves. If our house be on fire, without inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it.

Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.

One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them.

Who wants to leave the door open to being dominated physically by another human being? Jiu Jitsu gives you the ability to not be dominated by that person, and to me, that’s real peace of mind. I don’t have to worry about that when I’m walking around in the world.

Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.

Don’t hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.

People want to tear me down, they were going to knife me anyway.

I have a self-defense mind. I’ve had it all my life.

In defense of our persons and properties under actual violation, we took up arms. When that violence shall be removed, when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, hostilities shall cease on our part also.

One day a guy tried to rob me on the street, and I had no money. So I charged him.

The goal of jiu-jitsu in self-defense isn’t to take someone down to the ground – the goal in jiu-jitsu for self-defense is actually to be able to defend yourself on the ground, get up, and get away from an attacker. That’s what the goal is.

No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms.

The thing about Jiu Jitsu is it is also not for everybody. It can be very humiliating and humbling. If you have a hard time dealing with the fact that someone smaller than you may be able to tap you out, it is going to be difficult.

I never got into training to be an All-Ireland boxing champ or to win a belt. At the start, I just got into it to learn how to defend myself when I got into situations.

The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.

I like to have guns around. I don’t like to carry them.

I think if someone gets kicked in the face it is their fault – they watched the foot come towards their face.

I am never proud to participate in violence, yet I know that each of us must care enough for ourselves that we can be ready and able to come to our own defense when and wherever needed.

Fighting corruption is not just good governance. It’s self-defense. It’s patriotism.

Beto’s copy of the Bill of Rights goes from one to three. Mine includes the Second Amendment. But there are a whole host of people here in Washington… they would be happy to confiscate America’s guns. And if you don’t believe that, then you probably also still believe in Bigfoot.

It’s a lose-lose situation to get in a confrontation on the street. If you can break contact and get away, break contact and get away. That’s what you should learn self-defense for.

If you have to stand and fight, you train yourself so that you’re able to do it.

You don’t send people to prison on the basis of what other people imagine, or on the basis of media sound bites like ‚shooting an unarmed child,‘ when that ‚child‘ was beating him bloody.

There is a group of people that I think in good faith honestly believe that further curtailing our Second Amendment rights will enhance public safety. But there’s another group that just hates the Second Amendment.

Some of my colleagues argue that by further curtailing our Second Amendment rights, they can enhance public safety. Fine, the burden of proof is on them.

It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.

The principle of self defense, even involving weapons and bloodshed, has never been condemned, even by Gandhi.

I’m not a person who defends myself very often. I kind of let my actions speak for me.

I deplore the need or the use of troops anywhere to get American citizens to obey the orders of constituted courts.

My mother was very strong. Once, she picked up a coconut and smashed it against my father’s head. It taught me about women defending themselves and not collapsing in a heap.

Posture for combat is so vital.

One time, this guy was bothering my mother, and me and my brothers had a stern talking with the guy and a little bit of physicality with him. So he disappeared. But I’m not a magician.

We also cannot allow Wall Street banks to rewrite the Second Amendment just because they’re too big to fail.

I don’t think we need more gun control laws.

If you learn a martial art, you learn to be dangerous, but simultaneously, you learn to control it.

I do like to have guns around. I don’t like to carry them. But I like – if somebody is going to come into my house and I have not put out the welcome mat, I want to stop them.

Sometimes if you want to get rid of the gun, you have to pick the gun up.

If someone attacks me, and they want to punch or kick me, I can just run away. They’re not holding onto me. I can get away from them.

This above all, to refuse to be a victim.

Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac.

Guns are bad, I tell you.

When I was crossing the border into Canada, they asked if I had any firearms with me. I said, ‚Well, what do you need?‘

We’ve never advocated violence; violence is inflicted upon us. But we do believe in self-defense for ourselves and for black people.