"the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed"

You can't have a citizen's militia without an armed populace. If 'the people' don't have guns, you don't have a militia.

It’s about the right.

The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed, _because_ a well regulated Militia, is necessary to the security of a free State.

The point is to prevent the state from monopolizing violence, simple as.

~ History of the United States Volume II - James Schouler 1880

> [T]he right ... to have full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings concerning personal liberty, personal security, ... including the constitutional right to bear arms, shall be secured to and enjoyed by all the citizens of such States or districts without respect to race or color, or previous condition of slavery.

~ Freedmen's Burea Act extension overriding presidential veto - Congress 1866

> The physique and the manly appearance of the American people seems to make them well suited for the military profession. The young people very early get used to traveling and toil. Hunting is the young men's chief pasttime. This not only strengthens them bodily but teaches them to handle guns and thus prepares them for the hardships of war. In addition to this every free man has a right to keep arms in his house and to use them when he wants.

~ America 1818-1820 - Baron Klinkowstrom

> The constitution of the United States contains a number of expres limitation upon the Federal legislative power. In addition to those contained in the first then Amendments relative to freedom of religion, speech, and press, the quartering of troops, the right of the people to assemble, to petition, to keep and bear arms, to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures...

~ Principles of the Constitutional Law of the United States (1917) - Westel Willoughby

> The provision in the federal constitution on the subject is; "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

~ The United States Constitutional Manual (1845) - Mordecai M'Kinney

> I. Personal Rights of Individuals ... The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

~ The Federal Government; it's officers and Their Duties (1871) ~ Ransom H. Gillet

> The constitution makes it the right, the laws make it the duty, of all citizens within certain ages, to bear arms.

~ Education in a Republic (1838) - Edward Everett

> A man may arm himself for a case of probable danger; he may do it with a view to no specific occurrence, and he may do it in self-defense. Who can object to it? The constitution guarantees to every man the right bear arms. No law takes it away, and none every can. The right of self-defense is an inherent one, given by God, to man. It is our own natural right, and, as Blackstone says, no human legislation can ever take it from us.

~ The Life of John J. Crittenden With Selections From His Correspondence and Speeches (US Rep, US Senator, US AG, Gov of KY) (1871) - Edited by His Daughter, Mrs. Capman Coleman

> but arguing that legislators should be thrown in jail for passing laws you don't like is flashing a big neon "I'm a crank" sign

Ad hominem aside, this is equivalent to “We should have laws but they should be selectively meaningless”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brady_disclosure

https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewconten...

https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/minnlrev/vol107/iss2/3/

This administration revoked an executive order from the previous administration ("EO 14074") providing for a National Law Enforcement Accountability Database. And so, for the time being, citizens and journalists are left to collect, aggregate, and disseminate this information until the next administration takes office.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/05/31/2022-11...

https://bjs.ojp.gov/national-law-enforcement-accountability-...

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2026/01/26/police_miscondu...

Obligatory "Don't Talk To The Police"

Video: https://archive.org/details/youtube-d-7o9xYp7eE

Paper: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1998119

HN Threads: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwa...