By Senator Mark Green – Re-Blogged From Freedom Outpost
On December 15, 1791, the states of our fledgling democracy ratified ten amendments, which became known as the Bill of Rights.
The preamble to the Bill of Rights states it clearly, “the conventions of a number of states …expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers.” The intent of the Bill Of Rights was to restrain government abuses. These were designed to be checks and balances on the government. The second amendment reads: “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.”
Here, the founders state that to keep the state free, people have the right to keep and bear arms. The “why” we need a second amendment is clear: to protect a free state – to protect freedom.
James Madison initially proposed these amendments on June 8, 1789. Only six years prior to their proposal, the Treaty of Paris, ending the War with King George, was signed in 1783. The final agreement with England on America’s boundaries did not occur until 1795, with the Jay Treaty. The Bill of Rights was passed within eight years of a bloody war where citizen soldiers picked up their own weapons and overthrew a tyrannical government. It is clear that the authors of the second amendment intended to provide the citizenry a means to defend freedom from government, both at home and abroad.
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