Right to Bear Arms
The text of the Second Amendment reads in full: “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.” The framers of the
Bill of Rights adapted the wording of the amendment from nearly identical clauses in some of the original 13 state constitutions.
During the
Revolutionary War era, “militia” referred to groups of men who banded together to protect their communities, towns,
colonies and eventually states, once the United States declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776.
Many people in America at the time believed governments used soldiers to oppress the people, and thought the federal government should only be allowed to raise armies (with full-time, paid soldiers) when facing foreign adversaries. For all other purposes, they believed, it should turn to part-time militias, or ordinary civilians using their own weapons.