The Constitutional Convention came about because America’s
first government, the Articles of Confederation, made for a weak and quarrelsome
group of jealous and competing states (see EU today for equivalent). The new
government was conceived by elites who wanted a strong central government. A
group of dissidents in Pennsylvania felt shut out of the process, complaining
that “during the discussion we met with many insults, and some personal abuse;
we were not even treated with decency.”
They proposed a series of personal liberties, which later
were adopted as our Bill of Rights. Here was their idea about the right to bear
arms:
That the people have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and their
own state, or the United States, or for
the purpose of killing game; and no
law shall be passed for disarming the people or any of them, unless for
crimes committed, or real danger of
public injury from individuals; and as standing armies in the time of peace
are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up: and that the military
shall be kept under strict subordination to and be governed by the civil
powers.
No comments:
Post a Comment