Why was the second amendment created?
The original intent was to keep government in the hands of the PEOPLE! a. A well regulated militia—The goal b. being necessary to the security of a free State,—The reason c. the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.—The means of accomplishing the goal. This is spelled out in a quote from one of the authors of the 2nd Amendment, Tench Coxe; “Whereas civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as military forces, which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms.” The National Guard is a select militia, like the Second Amendment was passed to defend against. “Congress may give us a select militia which will, in fact, be a standing army – or Congress, afraid of a general militia, may say there shall be no militia at all. When a select militi
It was created as the last and ultimate check and balance of the federal government, so the citizens as a collective would have the ability to take down a bad government. The mechanics of the amendment are that individuals are protected in having guns, so the militia will have a source of guns because the govt can take arms away as well as supply them through article 1 section 8 of the constitution. The bearing of arms means simplty, that individuals can be in the militia, they protect the weapons and then the personnel that the militia needs to take down a bad government.
James Madison originally proposed this amendment as an insertion into the Constitution’s Article I, Section 9, between clauses 3 and 4. This section mentions prohibitions on suspension of habeas corpus, bills of attainder, and ex post facto laws. All of these are individual civil rights that are used by citizens to defend themselves against government. All of these limit the power of the government. Thomas Jefferson had mentioned in the Declaration of Independence that if a government failed to protect its citizens and instead became their enemy, they had the right to overthrow it! So one reason that citizens wanted to be armed was not just for defense against external enemies. They wanted protection from their own government! Jefferson considered it not only a right for the individual to be armed, but a duty. He said, “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.” Georg
