evidence: ‘It Will Not Be Needed Until They Try And Take It’ — Did Thomas Jefferson Say This Quote About The Second Amendment? An image shared on Facebook claims that founding father Thomas Jefferson once said, "The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try and take it." [...] Though Jefferson is often credited with this quote about the Second Amendment, there is no record of the third president ever using this expression. The Daily Caller searched the Papers of Thomas Jefferson but didn’t find any matching or similar phrases. It doesn’t appear in the collection of quotes and letters curated by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation either.