“Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no
matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear
arms…. The right of citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against
arbitrary government, one more safeguard against the tyranny which now appears remote
in America but which historically has proven to be always possible.”
– Senator Hubert H. Humphrey

“By calling attention to ‘a well regulated militia’, the ‘security’ of the
nation, and the right of each citizen ‘to keep and bear arms’, our founding
fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy. Although it is
extremely unlikely that the fears of governmental tyranny which gave rise to
the Second Amendment will ever be a major danger to our nation, the Amendment
still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military
relationships, in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of
his country. For that reason, I believe the Second Amendment will always be
important.” –John F. Kennedy, April 1960

As a liberal Supreme Court Jusitce once said,

“The closest the framers came to the affirmative side of liberty was in the right of the people to bear arms.” –William O. Douglas, 1963