A quote from Robert A. Heinlein’s book, Beyond This Horizon, is often snipped and used out of context to support gun rights. One of the reasons Heinlein’s character intimates that “an armed society is a polite society…” is because when criminals have to pay the price of being at the wrong end of the gun, it is a deterrent to crime, and also a way of culling the herd. Part of the quote also says, “We do not have enough things that kill off the weak and the stupid these days.” //

Well, in the first place an armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life. For me, politeness is a sine qua non of civilization. That’s a personal evaluation only. But gun-fighting has a strong biological use. We do not have enough things that kill off the weak and the stupid these days. But to stay alive as an armed citizen a man has to be either quick with his wits or with his hands, preferably both. It’s a good thing.