[Zavien Doombringer]

I would have to say, yes to Ordnance and arms. Canon are ordnance, muskets are arms...

[rhombus]

Canon are ordnance, muskets are arms...

Then you would agree that the 2nd Amendment does not address cannons at all? Others on this thread have disagreed.

[Dead Corpse]

So the "guns" on Privateer ships were more properly "ordnance"? And yet they were still legal to buy and own.

The Second is broader in scope than that...

[RKV]

Since the Constitution contemplates the private ownership of warships (Letters of Marque in Article 1 Section 8) I don't think it reasonable to limit arms in this manner. We should look at the practice of the early Republic, where there were militia artillery units. Functionally we should ask ourselves, which weapons are needed to overthrow our government in the event that it becomes a danger to our liberties? Those weapons are protected by the 2nd Amendment. In this day and age that means jets and tanks.

[El Gato]

I would have to say, yes to Ordnance and arms. Canon are ordnance, muskets are arms...

Cannor are indeed ordanance, but both cannon and muskets are arms. We have an Arms Control and DisArmament Agency, not an Ordance Control Agency. The Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty did not concernt AR-15s and AK-74s.

From the 1828 Webster's Dictionary. 'ARMS, n. plu. [L. arma.]

1. Weapons of offense, or armor for defense and protection of the body.
2. War; hostility.
Arms and the man I sing.
To be in arms, to be in a state of hostility, or in a military life.
To arms is a phrase which denotes a taking arms for war or hostility; particularly, a summoning to war.
To take arms, is to arm for attack or defense.
Bred to arms denotes that a person has been educated to the profession of a soldier.
3. The ensigns armorial of a family; consisting of figures and colors borne in shields, banners, &c., as marks of dignity and distinction, and descending from father to son.
4. In law, arms are any thing which a man takes in his hand in anger, to strike or assault another.
5. In botany, one of the seven species of fulcra or props of plants, enumerated by Linne and others. The different species of arms or armor, are prickles, thorns, forks and stings, which seem intended to protect the plants from injury by animals.
Sire arms, are such as may be charged with powder, as cannon, muskets, mortars, &c.
A stand of arms consists of a musket, bayonet, cartridge-box and belt, with a sword. But for common soldiers a sword is not necessary.
In falconry, arms are the legs of a hawk from the thigh to the foot.