Thursday, June 23, 2016

Origins of Right to Bear Arms (Interesting for Today)

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.

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