[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
Note that when Thomas Jefferson wanted to insure an individual right to possess personal weapons in Virgina (a proposal that was rejected), he wrote the proposed law as:

"No free man shall be debarred the use of arms."

The "right to bear arms" was known to refer to militia activity.

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Well in all honesty there are ex-criminals/insane people that I wouldn't want to give guns. You can't draw the conclusions you are drawing just because this was rejected. I would have problems with Jefferson's absolutist phrasing and I'm very pro individual rights. There were similar rejections on the opposite end of the spectrum. "for the common good" was one phrase that was strongly voted down when drafting the 2A. If the 2A was solely for the collective militia why was that phrase so strongly shot down?