A social media meme claims one of the country’s Founding Fathers was a friend to gun rights activists. You may have seen it on your Facebook feeds. It claims George Washington said:
“When government takes away citizens’ right to bear arms it becomes citizens’ duty to take away government’s right to govern.”
PolitiFact rated the claim for its truthfulness, and reporter Joshua Gillin said it rates FALSE. According to Gillin, it’s nearly impossible to prove.
“We talked to a bunch of historical experts about this and there's really no record of George Washington saying anything like this,” Gillin said.
There is an indication that Washington was in favor of armed militias. In Washington’s first State of the Union address, on Jan. 8, 1790, he said, “A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined.”
Experts agree that the former president was referring to a trained militia to defend the country, not necessarily armed citizens.
In fact, during the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794, when rebels in Pennsylvania rose up to fight a new tax on whiskey, a historian notes evidence that Washington was worried about their potential success and its effect on the central government.
Because there’s no proof linking Washington to the quote in the social media meme, or any historical evidence that points to Washington’s outright support of arming citizens, PolitiFact rated the claim FALSE.
SOURCES: GEORGE WASHINGTON AND THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS
- PolitiFact's rating
- Social media meme forwarded to PolitiFact
- PolitiFact Texas, "Louie Gohmert says George Washington said a free people should be armed to guard against government tyranny," Jan. 3, 2013
- "Fox News Sunday" interview with U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, Dec. 16, 2012
- George Washington, First Annual Message to Congress, Jan. 8, 1790
- Senate and House responses to First Annual Message to Congress, Jan. 11-12, 1790
- Washington Post blog entry, "George Washington’s individual mandates," June 26, 2012
- Center of Military History textbook, "American Military History," Chapter 5, "The Formative Years: 1783-1812," July 22, 2004
- George Washington, memo to Committee to the Continental Congress on a Military Peace Establishment, May 2, 1783
- Email interview with Ron Chernow, Washington biographer, Jan. 1-2, 2013
- Email interview with John Woolley, co-creator of University of California-Santa Barbara American Presidency Project, Dec. 20-27, 2012
- Email interview with Mary Thompson, research historian at Mount Vernon estate, Dec. 27-28, 2012
- Email interview with Edward Lengel, editor in chief of the Papers of George Washington project at the University of Virginia, Feb. 19, 2015