Gun Nuts Lie

Badtux on George Washington:

“A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.”

Yep, it turns out that’s a fake quote invented by gun nuts.

The actual George Washington quote:

“A free people ought not only to be armed but disciplined; to which end a Uniform and well digested plan is requisite: And their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories, as tend to render them independent on others, for essential, particularly for military supplies.”

Background:

George Washington’s disdain for the militia was famous back in the day. They had let him down far too many times by running when the British charged with bayonets.

...As a result, Washington got the following written into the Constitution as a power of the new Congress, Article I, Section 8 Clause 16, where Congress is given the power to regulate the state militias....

The hope was that by having the Federal government in charge of arming the militias and setting standards of training and discipline, the militias could be brought up to the point of being militarily useful, rather than a useless armed rabble.