The big Supreme Court case this term is D.C. v. Heller about Washington's ban on handguns. It's the first test of the 2nd amendment in a long time. One argument is that the leading phrase "a well regulated militia" means this is a public right but not an individual one. Another argument is that "bear arms" referred only to military use, not individual use. I didn't realize there was an amicus brief filed known as the Linguists' Brief defending this point. Language Log examines What did it mean to ‘bear arms’ in 1791?
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This questions is the underlying one in the novel "The Lost Constitution" by William Martin that I currently am reading. Have not gotten to the 'meaning' yet. Evidently, there were annotated copies of the Constitution, 40-50 in all (?) that answered such questions, formed the Constitution, etc.
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