Larry W wrote:
In article ,
Percival P. Cassidy wrote:
...snipped...
BTW, it was recently brought to my attention that the wording of the
Second Amendment is rather strange: it mentions not "citizens" but
"the people." (That is quite apart from the fact that the Amendment
specified the purpose for which the people shall be allowed to bear
arms: for the establishment of a militia -- it not being envisaged
that the USA would have a standing army.)

Perce

That is not correct. Here's the 2nd Amendment:

"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."

In the context of the time it was written, after the succesful
revolution against the British, standing armies were considered a
necessary evil; needed for the security of a state, but dangerous
because under the command of a less than benign goverment, they could
be used to oppress the people. The 2nd amendment guarantees the
rights of the people to keep arms, so that if necessary, the people
could RESIST the standing army. In other words, because a militia was
necessary for the security of
the state, it was also necessary for the people to be allowed to arm
themselves, if the militia, under an oppressive regime should be used
against them.

It's wise, as you point out, to look to the original meaning of the
Constitution. In addition to your observation that fear of oppressive
government was the main motivation, it's also worthwhile to look at the
original meaning of a couple of words:

"Militia" - In the late 18th century, "militia" meant all able-bodied
freemen in the community. It did NOT mean an organized military body -
active or reserve. "Militia" was a subset of "people" and meant to not
include some.

People = everybody
Citizen = People minus slaves
Militia = Citizens minus women, children, and the elderly (i.e., able-bodied
men)

"Regulate" - In the same time period, "regulated" did not mean "subject to
discipline and organization" as it does today. At the time, there were
acutally NO regulations to follow! Anyway, "regulated," in the day, meant
having a functional weapon. There are vestiges of that definition in today's
language as in "well-regulated" timepiece or "The Well-Tempered (regulated)
Clavier."*

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* The Well-Tempered Clavier: A collection of keyboard music by Johann
Sebastian Bach, completed just 30 years before the American Revolution.