“the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”
HISTORICAL and CONTEMPORARY WITH THOSE TIMES DEFINITIONS OF TO KEEP AND BEAR
“TO BEAR ARMS” IS A MILITARY TERM-
TO KEEP ARMS IS IMPLICIT IN “TO BEAR ARMS”
In any debate, one should define the terms used in the debate: \
Thusly:
Definition of to “KEEP” to preserve and maintain..
TO GUARD; DEFEND
to “KEEP” `means NOT TO LET GO ONE`S POSSESSION OR CONTROL”
“KEEPER”,n., “one who n., “one who watches, GUARDS, maintains” Webster`s Dictionary, p.460
to “BEAR: 1. to support and move; CARRY.
2. to be equipped furnished ..as to BEAR A SWORD.
3. to be directed; to be pointed, as TO PLANT GUNS TO BEAR
UPON AS a trench
1777 Battle of Bennington
“I enlisted said he at Francestown NH in Colonel Stickney’s regiment and Captain Clark’s company as soon as I learned that Stark would accept the command of the State troops six or seven others from the same town joined the army at the same time. We marched forthwith to Number Four and stayed there a week. Meantime I received a horn of powder and run two or three hundred bullets. I HAD BROUGHT MY OWN GUN [my caps].” p393 - “History of
Newbury, Vermont: From the Discovery of the Coös Country to ...” edited by Frederic Palmer Wells
...Who saved Baltimore? ... Who obtained the victory at New Orleans?
These militia, trained and disciplined in their own houses; not practised in the field, but BRINGING THEIR GUNS
WHICH THEY WERE TAUGHT TO USE WHEN CHILDREN..”p.111, p.168 are sourced from �Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Vol. 4, by the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, 1837-8
“That no officer lnlist any man for the service of this Colony who hath not a good firearm.” Mar. 6, 1776 P81 Bouton
1777 KIDS FIGHT WITH MUSKETS AND BAYONETS
AT BATTLE OF SARATOGA
Thirteen year old boys with muskets fought at Saratoga Dwight,”The Northern Traveler”, p141
Initially the Second Amendment applied only to federal government infringement of the States’ ability to form militias, made up of the armed citizenry. Hence, the states remained able to infringe had there been any wish to do so.
Militias were critical to the National defense for almost the first century of our existence. To infringe on the Second would have been suicide.
Militias were composed of every able-bodied citizen which is where the individual right comes into the picture. Some states’ constitutions even define the militia as the able-bodied citizens.