OPINION:
The Founding Fathers included the right to bear arms in the Bill of Rights for a specific reason. It was not so people could freely go duck or deer hunting, or protect their houses against burglars.
Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, Mason, etc., explicitly said the right was to enable the people to protect themselves from their elected representatives.
Jefferson wrote about giving people the right to protect themselves against “the rulers” — and he didn’t mean the British.
The framers did not trust the elected governments, and with good reason.
ALAN L. STEWART
St. Catharines, Ontario
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