Gun Control & RKBA
In reply to the discussion: This message was self-deleted by its author [View all]jimmy the one
(2,708 posts)sarisataka: Jefferson-- "The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed."
Comports fine with the militia interpretation.
sari/jeff: To Giovanni Fabbroni June 8, 1778 SIR, -- Your letter of Sep. 15. 1777 from Paris comes safe to hand. I enclose you a list of the killed, wounded, and captives of the enemy from the commencement of hostilities at Lexington in April, 1775, until November, 1777, since which there has been no event of any consequence..... I think that upon the whole it has been about one half the number lost by them, in some instances more, but in others less. This difference is ascribed to our superiority in taking aim when we fire; every soldier in our army having been intimate with his gun from his infancy.
Obviously Jefferson is embellishing here, shouldn't be taken seriously that every continental soldier had a gun as a child. Perhaps trying to impress his Italian agrarian friend. In 1803 dearborn, under jefferson, conducted a firearm census which showed only 45% of militia members had access to a firearm (see below, includes state provided), which meant more than half white males did not.
... huffpo: The nation's first Sec of War, Henry Knox, ordered several nationwide counts of guns during George Washington's presidency. During Thomas Jefferson's admin, a more ambitious and careful national count was launched by War Secr Henry Dearborn in 1803, covering arms held both publicly and privately. The result showed that about 45% of militia-eligible men (roughly between the ages 18-45) had arms, or about 24% of adult white males. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-j-spitzer/upset-about-a-census-of-p_b_521389.html
sari/jeff: "A government resting on the minority is an aristocracy, not a Republic, and could not be safe with a numerical and physical force against it, without a standing army, an enslaved press and a disarmed populace."
Comports with the militia interpretation. It has to mean a militia, since armed unorganized individuals could not resist a numerical force against it. And recall the saying - an unorganized mob is no more an army than loose bricks & mortar a house.