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Was Benjamin Franklin a wise, intelligent man, or was he foolish, and ignorant?

Ben Franklin created: the lightning rod, the bifocal glasses, the furnace stove, the first fire insurance company, and the first public library, to list just a few. He was essential to obtaining France's support in the Revolutionary War, signed the Declaration of Independence, and published many papers and tracts supporting the ideas of Liberty and Independence. He also is quoted: "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety" Do you think Ben Franklin would have supported the idea that peaceful citizens should not bear arms, because it might be "unsafe"?

Public Comments

1. I think in a day where our society has advanced sufficiently to be able to destroy the world several times over with nuclear warheads, its about time we let go of the notion that we can do whatever the fuck we want because it's our "right".
2. Hell no he wouldn't of supported it or any other idea of modern day libs.
3. http://healthandsurvival.com/2008/09/05/10-dead-people-at-ben-franklins-home/ i don't know, but he had some bodies in his basement. kids included. mason?
4. Franklin was a friend of Jefferson. Jefferson thought the government had to change with the times. Franklin would have been FOR guns in homes back then. Don't be too sure about NOW.
5. No, Ben would be outside with his AR15.
6. Very wise indeed, not like the idiot we have now.
7. Do you think Ben Franklin would have supported the idea that peaceful citizens should not bear arms, because it might be "unsafe"? Absolutely not. Yes, he was very wise and instrumental to our constitution.
8. Ben Franklin had syphilis.
9. He would be very upset with the way OUR government is being run and what it has become today. The current US gov is 100 times the size it was in 1776 and has 1000 times the power the British gov had when he rebelled against it and injects itself into so many things it would make old Ben spin in his grave. Ben Franklin would be a great Libertarian if he were alive today.
10. Franklin supported the right to bear arms. As for your first question, was he a wise, intelligent man, or was he foolish and ignorant. He might have answered the question with, yes.
11. I've seen many portraits of Franklin, I don't recall any in which he is packing heat. I support the 2nd amendment, but I also support common sense. Mr. Franklin's quote is better used as an argument against the Patriot Act . As I heard one pundit say last night: You have the freedom to use a pogo stick and the freedom to belong to any church you want, but would you go to church on your pogo stick?
12. What ever possessed you to think Ben Franklin was foolish and ignorant? BF would be against everything that is the American govt today.
13. Franklin would have been ready to go to war by now.
14. I think Ben Franklin would have known there are appropriate places for brandishing firearms and inappropriate places and that a "peaceful citizen" would not bring one to a political rally unless he had simply stopped on his way home from hunting food for his family. If Ben were alive today to see the murder and mayhem that is a result of allowing anyone and everyone to own a gun he would certainly think differently about our 2nd amendment.