This is what the people who wrote the constitution and ratified it said. There is no doubt what so ever that the right to bear arms was to protect the people from a tyrannical government. Protecting from a tyrannical government is not the same as saying that you should overthrow the government. The very name of the amendment “The Bill of Rights” tells you that it is an “individual” right. All the bills of rights are for individuals and the people at large.
“The whole of the Bill (of Rights) is a declaration of the right of the people at large or considered as individuals…. It establishes some rights of the individual as unalienable and which consequently, no majority has a right to deprive them of.” (Albert Gallatin of the New York Historical Society, October 7, 1789)
“Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?” (Patrick Henry, 3 J. Elliot, Debates in the Several State Conventions 45, 2d ed. Philadelphia, 1836)
“The right of the people to keep and bear arms has been recognized by the General Government; but the best security of that right after all is, the military spirit, that taste for martial exercises, which has always distinguished the free citizens of these States….Such men form the best barrier to the liberties of America” – (Gazette of the United States, October 14, 1789.)
“I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.”
George Mason
Co-author of the Second Amendment during Virginia’s Convention to Ratify the Constitution, 1788“The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full possession of them.”
Zachariah Johnson
Elliot’s Debates, vol. 3 “The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution.““And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the Press, or the rights of Conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms; …”
Samuel Adams
quoted in the Philadelphia Independent Gazetteer, August 20, 1789, “Propositions submitted to the Convention of this State”“The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full possession of them.”
Zachariah Johnson
Elliot’s Debates, vol. 3 “The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution.““Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence … from the hour the Pilgrims landed to the present day, events, occurrences and tendencies prove that to ensure peace security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable … the very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil interference — they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.”
George Washington
First President of the United States“To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.”
Richard Henry Lee
American Statesman, 1788“The great object is that every man be armed.” and “Everyone who is able may have a gun.”
Patrick Henry
American Patriot“Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?”
Patrick Henry
American Patriot“Those who hammer their guns into plowshares will plow for those who do not.”
Thomas Jefferson
Third President of the United States“The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that … it is their right and duty to be at all times armed; … “
Thomas Jefferson letter to Justice John Cartwright, June 5, 1824. ME 16:45.“The best we can help for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed.”
Alexander Hamilton
The Federalist Papers at 184-8“What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms.”
Thomas Jefferson to James Madison“They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Ben Franklin
American Statesman“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”
– Thomas Jefferson“I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.”
– Thomas Jefferson“The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes…. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”
– Thomas Jefferson (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria)“Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe.”
– Noah Webster“The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops.”
– Noah Webster“A government resting on the minority is an aristocracy, not a Republic, and could not be safe with a numerical and physical force against it, without a standing army, an enslaved press and a disarmed populace.”
– James Madison“Americans have the right and advantage of being armed, unlike the people of other countries, whose leaders are afraid to trust them with arms.”
– James Madison“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country.”
– James Madison“The ultimate authority resides in the people alone.”
– James Madison“This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty…. The right of self defense is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.”
– St. George Tucker“What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty …. Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins.”
– Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts“On every occasion [of Constitutional interpretation] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying [to force] what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, [instead let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed.”
– Thomas Jefferson
This is a list of quotes that the gun nut crazies are always posting to supposedly show that you have a right to keep and bear arms.
What part of a well-regulated militia don’t you understand?
Here in California, we have maybe 16 million gun owners. I have no idea what the numbers are. Are they part of a well-regulated militia? Are they part of a militia to be called up at any time to fight foreign invaders, domestic rebellions, slave rebellions and Indian savages? Well of course not. In that case, since they are not part of a well-regulated militia and in fact they are not part of any militia, they obviously have no Constitutional right whatsoever to own guns.
Also keep in mind that the “keep and bear arms” part is tied in with the “well-regulated militia” part. People have a right to keep and bears arms if and only if they are part of a well-regulated militia. Since they are not part of such a militia, the keep and bear arms phrase has no meaning and they have no such right.
Those quotes above are all in favor of a people’s militia. The Founders liked the idea of a people’s militia. The militia was supposed to be merely all of the men in the state and their guns. This militia was to be called up by the state in the even of foreign invasion, or to put down slave rebellions and internal revolutions, to fight wild Indians or to fight against the European powers, often armed, such as the British and the French, who were encouraging on what these land thieves saw as their land. In fact, during Shay’s Rebellion, such a militia was indeed called up and there was a bill in Congress authorizing it. The bill had the words “Second Amendment Militia Act” in it. This citizens’ militia was used to put down this internal armed rebellion.
Those statements above are in favor of the sort of armed citizens’ militia that was called up to put down Shay’s Rebellion. The Founders supported these citizens’ militias because they were opposed to standing armies. They thought that standing armies were inherently tyrannical and if we had citizens’ militias instead of a standing army, there would be less chance for tyranny. In addition, there was this idea that these citizens’ militias could be a guard against a federal government that got out of hand and came out to try to lord it over some state. The idea was that the citizens’ militia of that state would be called up and the federal power grab would be stopped.
However all of this talk was centered around the idea of “no standing army.” Instead of a standing army, we will have these citizens’ militias that are authorized by the Second Amendment. Indeed, we did not have a standing army for a while after we were a new country. But that was always a very stupid idea and this “no standing army” notion didn’t last long! In a matter of 10 years or so, it became apparent that a standing army was absolutely necessary and one was quickly instituted. At that point, the citizens’ militias that were to exist instead of and in opposition to the standing army became null and void and meaningless.
I suppose one could argue that we could have a standing army and a citizens’ militia. However, the fact is that the Founder’s notion of citizens’ militias consisting of all citizens has been completely abandoned. All of the armed citizens of California are not part of some well-regulated militia, so the 2nd Amendment is meaningless in California. If you argue that some militia is authorized, ok, but we don’t have one. We do have state militias as authorized by the 2nd Amendment. These are called the state units of the National Guard. These fulfill the wording of the 2nd Amendment.
Really this whole amendment is meaningless because it is frozen back in some time when we called up citizens’ militias to enforce the law.
Guns have been banned for a long time in the United States. Even in the early years of the Republic, while it was true that on the frontier most people had guns, in the big cities of the East Coast, there were strict gun and ammunition bans in place. No one ever said that these violated the Second Amendment. And in the Wild West, many mayors banned guns in their cities and towns due to all the gun violence. No one ever argued that these bans violated the Second Amendment. Obviously, complete gun bans are legal and Constitutional in any US city or town.
