[Spktyr]

Technically, that line *could* be interpreted to include cannon and warships. One cannot say that naval cannon were not in common use around the time of the founding by the citizenry.

[bvw]

The AMERICAN "historical tradition" of Privateering:

• 200+ years out of Rhode Island
• Patriot Pirates: The Privateer War for Freedom and Fortune in the American Revolution
• Jewish Colonial Privateers A source for typical number of cannon: Havannah 6, Marbois 16.

So what does actual HISTORY say? Well, since a Man-of-war was the greatest weapon available at the time -- the weapon of mass destruction of its time -- therefore the US Constitution and 2nd both mean we have the right to surface to air missiles. Even nukes! That's the ORIGINALIST reading.

Of course some like to peek through history's looking glass only through a dim slender hairs-width of a slit. The whole picture is very scary. So we redefine words, change meanings -- make the Constitution "alive" like some Frankenstein's monster, rather than have it be the fearsome contract for Liberty that it was to have been.