Originally Posted by B&DCalgary

Wrongo... the second amendment was written in the days before the formation of a formal military, and was designed to ensure citizens had weapons to protect themselves from foreign invasion, not from their own government. It was written as a direct result of the British trying to disarm the loosely organized colonial citizen militias in the early stages of the revolutionary war. It has absolutely nothing to do with citizens arming themselves "to not be kept under the heel of their own government".

The second amendment became redundant following the establishment of an independent nation and the formation of a formalized military, but its meaning has been continuously twisted over the years with people only referring to its last passage and ignoring the preamble that sets the context of why citizens should have the right to bear arms, i.e. "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State..." Once the armed forces were created, citizens' militia were no longer required to protect the state so the right for citizens to bear arms expressly for this purpose, as prescribed in the second amendment, became unnecessary. The second amendment was never meant to address the issue of self defense. Rights of self defense are dealt with under common law, not constitutional law.