Second Amendment was safeguard against government

In a recent letter to the editor, the writer states: "If one studies the history of the Second Amendment ... when this country was founded, we needed a well-regulated militia to defend our country ... we did not have armories or forts back then where arms could be stored, so we declared in our constitution that a militia being necessary, the right of individual militia members to bear or keep arms in their homes was necessary."

Actually, if one studies the history, one will learn that the Second Amendment was a safeguard against the federal government, not some foreign invader.

In the Federalist Papers #46, James Madison proposed "Let a regular army, fully equal to the resources of the country, be formed; and let it be entirely at the devotion of the federal government ..." Using the realities of the time, Madison calculated that a total commitment of resources "would not yield, in the United States, an army of more than twenty-five or thirty thousand men. To these would be opposed a militia mounting to near half a million of citizens with arms in their hands, officered by men chosen from among themselves, fighting for their common liberties and united and conducted by governments possessing their affections and confidence."

In summing up, he noted that "the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms ..."

The Second Amendment is not about hunting, it is not about personal protection, it not about repelling foreign invaders, it is about maintaining a credible means to violently overthrow the federal government. Don't take my word for it, look it up for yourself in the Federalist Papers #46.

Lou Eisenberg

Buffalo Grove