Reply #30: "...the right of the people to keep and bear Arms..."

[defendandprotect]

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, 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. shall not be infringed.

The Second Amendment (Amendment II) to the United States Constitution is a part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects the pre-existing individual right to possess and carry weapons (i.e. "keep and bear arms") in case of confrontation.<1> Codification of the right to keep and bear arms into the Bill of Rights was influenced by a fear that the federal government would disarm the people in order to impose rule through a standing army or select militia,<2> since history had shown the way tyrants eliminated resistance to suppression of political opponents was to simply take away the people's arms and make it an offense to keep them.<3> In District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court ruled that self-defense is a central component of the right.<4>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution