Summary

Protects the right to keep and bear arms.

History and Context

The memory of the British attempting to disarm the colonists before the Revolution was seared into the minds of the founding generation. They viewed a standing, professional army with deep suspicion, seeing it as a tool of oppression. Their ideal was the 'citizen-soldier'—the ordinary man who could take up arms to defend his home, his state, and his liberty. The Second Amendment was born from this belief: that a populace armed and organized into militias was the ultimate check against both foreign invasion and domestic tyranny. It was seen as a fundamental guarantee of a 'free State.'

Key Figures