The Second Amendment, a Well Regulated Militia

The second amendment is naturally divided into two parts, its prefatory clause and its operative clause. The former does not limit the latter grammatically, but rather announces a purpose. So that's where the heller individual right to keep arms comes from. It fits perfectly once we know the history. And he cites pennsylvania's declaration of 17 76 for this claim. He goes through some pretty compelling history on this. A during 17 88 ratification debates, the fear that the federal government would disarm the people in order to impose rule through a standing army or select militia was pervasive in anti federalist rhetoric. This is what had occurred in england that prompted the cotification of the right to have