Have you ever wondered why our Constitution bakes into law the right of the average citizen to have a private gun? That is a right that is not given to it's citizens in any other country.
Many third world countries are seen where almost everybody is carrying around an AK47 and shooting them off at will, but they haven't been given that right under the law. Most, if not all, of the more advanced countries have severely restricted the distribution of firearms. Many have a total ban on the private citizen owning a gun. Why are we different?
There a several reasons why. When the first 12 amendments (only 10 were approved) were being written, the main purpose was to protect the citizen from an overreaching government, whether that government was federal or local. The early citizens of this country had only recently won a war against, what they thought of as, a tyrannical government. They were very wary of large government with unchecked powers. They were afraid that government would take away the freedoms that they had fought so hard to gain. Thus the first amendments to the constitution. The second amendment was part of that list of protections of the people from its government.
To start with, you have to remember the atmosphere of this country at it's basic formation and the conditions that existed here in the late 18th century.
First, the founding fathers did not envision that the country would have a large standing army. The Constitution specifically says that nation should raise and maintain a navy, but merely says that the congress can call up an army in time of need. And where was that army coming from? The militia of course. The is the main reason the second amendment is worded as it is. They coupled the restriction on the government from infringing on the rights of the citizen to have a gun by noting that a militia was necessary. They believed that if the country needed to raise an army, that the militia would be called up and the militia men would take their guns down from over the fireplace and an instant army would be formed. Each state was responsible for raising and training a militia. Added to that was a distrust of a strong standing army and the potential threat it might have to the nation if lead by strong leader.
Secondly, everything west of the Atlantic states was completely unsettled by white men. The west was a hostile place. It was necessary, therefore, that the people that were on the frontier be able to defend themselves against the hostile natives that didn't care much for the white mans incursion into what they felt were their territory, because they won it in battle from some other native tribe.
I'm sure that the originators of the first amendments had some other personal issues for wanting the 2nd amendment. They likely had guns themselves. But, essentially the amendment was written and approved to put a check on the rise of government power to the point where government itself became the enemy of the people. Our founding fathers were very highly educated people and extremely well read. They foresaw the course governments tend to take as they grew larger. Governments want to control everything. They 2nd amendment assures that the states had a large force that could oppose a large and overreaching federal grab for power over the states. After all the states considered themselves as semi-independent countries bound together only by the constitution. Recall that the 10th amendment to the Constitution specifically states that any power not given the the federal government by that document is reserved to the individual states. An amendment that seems to be largely ignored today.
