Who's Buying all These Guns?

[hatidua]

It is against sound policy for a free people to keep up large military establishments and standing armies in time of peace

Are you good with the entire Joseph Story quote you posted, or just parts of it?

[Ronin13]

Are you good with the entire Joseph Story quote you posted, or just parts of it?

That quote right there I believe you to be taking out of context... He says nothing about eliminating the military, just not keeping war-capable force size 100% of the time- in that context he is speaking kind of in terms like it was just after WWII- during WWII we had a large force, but after Korea such a large force wasn't necessary so it can shrink and expand again when needed. It's more of an argument toward the requirement for a militia (to be defined as "any civilian that takes upon themselves the responsibility to keep an bear arms"- as Story quoted at a later date).