W/drawings, photographs, obscenities & CAPS, ppl responded to my blog on mass shootings. Histories of our Constitution & Bill of Rights are more complex than drawings. Prior to the Revolution, Colonies’ laws on firearms were for common good, i.e., militias. [FN1] 1/9

The Articles of Confederation do not mention an individual right, but discuss militias. [FN2] In 1786, a significant event was Shays’ Rebellion. Farmers took up arms to stop foreclosures, and militia opposed them. Both sides included veterans of the Revolution. [FN3] 2/9

Those who, today, advocate the 2nd Amendment “to fight tyranny,” miss the view of Shays, et al. Landlords were the tyrants. The delegates to the Convention in Philadelphia, the following May, were “people of wealth” on the side of, or were, the landlords. [FN4] [FN5] 3/9

To construe the 2nd Amendment, look first to the text, in full and as ratified 12/15/91: “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.” [FN6] No mention of tyranny or individual right. 4/9

Congress debated the matter. Again, “there is no mention of the question of whether individuals have a constitutionally protected right to own firearms.” The House debates were about conscientious objectors w/digressions into dangers of a standing army. [FN7] 5/9

My blog today was congratulatory. So much carnage has occurred as a result of advocacy for a right that is not in The Constitution. Way to go! ... But only if you can establish, w/peer-reviewed studies, that those deaths prevent deaths in greater numbers. No? 6/9

Footnotes:
FN1. Massachusetts, 1632, musket [] serviceable peece for war,” The Compact with the Charter and General Laws of the Colony of New Plymouth, 44-45 (1836); Virginia, 1658, Acts of Grand Assembly 1658-1659, Act 25; New York, Duke of York's Laws (1665-1675). 7/9

Footnotes:
FN2. Articles of Confederation, Art VI, para. 4.
FN3. Stewart, “The Summer of 1787,” 2007 ed., pp. 12-15.
FN4. The Federalist, No. 6 (Hamilton). 8/9

Footnotes:
FN5. Collier & Collier, “Decision in Philadelphia,” 2007, pp. 15-17.
FN6. Stewart, “The Summer of 1787,” 2007 ed., p. 227.
FN7. Dru Stevenson, Revisiting the Original Congressional Debates About the Second Amendment, 88 MO. L. REV. 463 (2023) 9/9