The right to bear arms has become one of the most controversial provisions of the American Bill of Rights, but what did the founding generation mean by it? Did they understand it to imply protection of an individual or a collective right to bear arms and what were and are the ramifications of that difference?
Second Amendment: Bear Arms
A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.