Quote:
Originally Posted by 57 On Red
The Second Amendment was drafted solely so that the southern slave-owning states could arm their 'slave patrols' to keep 'em down.
No.
The 2A was a reaction to the new constitution, which threatened states' autonomy. The 2A insured that state governments retained a military (the militia) and the federal government did not have a monopoly on force.
Gun control advocates (whom I support) are reading a present day concern into a 200 year old discussion. If you look at the main worry expressed back then, it was over a too-powerful national government. Not a personal right to be armed in a slave patrol.
Certainly the South wanted to keep its slave patrols, but northern states also wanted to keep their militias. A personal right to bear was not even a discussion point, almost no one was worried about it. Firearms were like axes -- of course you could have one. The 2A was about the militia. Just like it says. It would not even apply to slave patrols that were outside a regulated militia structure.