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The Illusion of Tradition: Spurious Quotations and the Gun Control Debate

The Illusion of Tradition: Spurious Quotations and the Gun Control Debate Opponents of gun control often attribute pro-gun quotations to the nation's founders. Of these, Thomas Jefferson's supposed statements that “The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it,” and “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,” are both of recent origin, as is the claim that firearms “are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence,” attributed to George Washington. Purveyors of this false tradition employ these spurious quotations to circumvent reasoned debate. In this way, an argument for a radical innovation masquerades as an appeal to tradition. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Argumentation and Advocacy Taylor & Francis

The Illusion of Tradition: Spurious Quotations and the Gun Control Debate

Harpine, William D.
Argumentation and Advocacy , Volume 52 (3): 14 – Jan 1, 2016
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The Illusion of Tradition: Spurious Quotations and the Gun Control Debate

Abstract

Opponents of gun control often attribute pro-gun quotations to the nation's founders. Of these, Thomas Jefferson's supposed statements that “The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it,” and “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,” are both of recent origin, as is the claim that firearms “are...
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2016 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
ISSN
2576-8476
eISSN
1051-1431
DOI
10.1080/00028533.2016.11821867
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Opponents of gun control often attribute pro-gun quotations to the nation's founders. Of these, Thomas Jefferson's supposed statements that “The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it,” and “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,” are both of recent origin, as is the claim that firearms “are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence,” attributed to George Washington. Purveyors of this false tradition employ these spurious quotations to circumvent reasoned debate. In this way, an argument for a radical innovation masquerades as an appeal to tradition.

Journal

Argumentation and Advocacy – Taylor & Francis

Published: Jan 1, 2016

Keywords: tradition; George Washington; Thomas Jefferson; John Locke; gun control; fabrication

References

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