"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, Commonplace Book (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria), 1774-1776