When the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791, we should remember that a musket could fire one to three or four rounds per minute, requiring the gunman to stop between each shot and reload gunpowder, add a patch and a ball, use the ramrod to clean the barrel, and then seat the round bullet properly. Oh, and fill the flashpan with gunpowder. There was no standing army. The amendment reads, 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.<\/p>\n
Things have changed. So, should it be legal in this day and age that anyone old enough to buy a weapon can flaunt and potentially fire an AR-15 (which fires 45 or more rounds per minute) in a public setting? Or carrying current-day arms at a public event? Really, the Second Amendment was not meant for assault weapons. Bear in mind that arms also means bombs, rockets, bazookas and machine guns, to name a few. Perhaps the issue for the assault rifle proponents is to possess all that power.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, James Madison was the most influential framer of the Second Amendment. He intended the amendment to guarantee the right of each state to resolve its internal problems; for him especially, this included the problems of a large slave population, as he was a slaveholder.<\/p>\n
Loraine Brandt, Salt Lake City<\/p>\n
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Continue reading here: When the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791, we should remember that a musket could fire one to three or four rounds per minute, requiring the gunman to stop between each shot and reload gunpowder, add a patch and a ball, use the ramrod to clean the barrel, and then seat the round bullet properly. Oh, and fill the flashpan with gunpowder. Continue reading
\nLetter: The history of the Second Amendment - The Salt Lake Tribune - Salt Lake Tribune<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"